Warriors of Harmony
by chillbook1
Summary: After the return of Sombra, Silver and his friends have to suit up once more in order to defeat his army and return peace to Earth and Equestria. This time, it'll be hard to succeed without making sacrifices.
1. A Crystal Train Ride

**Author's Note: The end of the series! If you stuck with it until the end, I appreciate it greatly, friends. Please, read and review if you liked. Farewell!**

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Chapter 1

BEEP!

BEEP!

I lazily slapped my hand on my watch, silencing the sound of the alarm which had awoken me. I ran my hands through Fluttershy's mane slowly, then lifted her head off of my lap. I placed her head gently back onto the train seat, then stretched out my arms. I brought my watch to my face and let out a soft groan. 3 in the morning. Once again, I couldn't sleep. I needed to go for a walk. I left Fluttershy there, opting to not disturbing her slumber. I knew she could use some sleep. I walked to the door and stepped into the next train car. I strolled drowsily along, pushing myself on nothing but adrenaline and two hours of sleep. Since last week. I've had a good reason to be restless. Sombra was back, and he was targeting my kids. So, forgive me if I was a little uneasy.

"I'm so tired." I said to nopony as I walked into another train car. Unlike the other two cars I was in, this one wasn't empty. This one was occupied by a single, orange pegasus. She caught sight of me and her eyes burned with rage.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Silver Rift, yeah?!"

"That is me. How may I help you, ma'am?" I asked.

"Open the Rifts! I got places to go!" she said angrily.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that at this moment."

"Yeah, you can! Open them up!"

"I'm not in a position to do that right now, ma'am." I answered respectfully. Always show respect to your customers, right?

"I don't care! Open them! I have my passport, I should be able to go where and when I want to go!" she said, flashing me a plastic card. She put it away quickly, but not before I saw everything I needed. "I pay my taxes, so I pay your bills, asshole! You're just a greedy, money-hungry idiot! You can't just cut off the Rifts without giving us any warning! What if I don't live here? What would happen if I didn't know anypony here? What I had nowhere to stay while I was here? You're a pathetic loser, and you should be ashamed, doing this to a lady! Maybe I don't have enough bits to buy a ticket back to the Metros? What would happen then? I think I deserve some compensation so that I don't sue your ass to hell!"

"Ma'am, if I had a week I couldn't list off everything that was wrong with what you just said, but let's give it a shot anyway." I sighed. I've done a lot in twenty years, but I still haven't discovered how to escape idiocy such as this. "First of all, that passport is expired. Second, that's not yours. That was a unicorn's passport. Third, the Metro is not paid for by the government. I pay for all repairs and maintenance out of my own pocket. Fourth, if I'm so greedy, then why do I donate half of the Rift Metro profits to Ponyville and other towns? Fifth, I gave you plenty of warning. I've been alerting the masses for evacuation to their home realms all week. Sixth, seventh and eighth problems, I know you! You live in Ponyville, so I know you have a place to stay. Ninth, if you have enough money to buy a ticket to the train, I'm sure you have $2.50 lying around for the Rift. Tenth, you couldn't really sue me for anything. And finally, I may be pathetic, but when shit hits the fan, Equestria is going to need me. Just remembering that is enough to push me to continue. That, and having a wonderful family. So, call me what you will. I don't care."

"Yeah, that's great, but you have to open up the Rifts!"

"I don't think you get it. I don't _have_ to do shit! I'm not opening the Rifts until the danger has passed."

"What danger?" she asked.

"I can't tell you. I'm not at a liberty to say at this time. It may cause a panic."

"Oh yeah, of course." she said rolling her eyes.

"Name a city!" I shouted. She looked at me confusedly, so I repeated myself. "Name a city in Equestria!"

"Um… Ponyville." she said.

"What's the population?"

"Um… couple hundred thousand?"

"If I open the Rifts, a couple hundred thousand are dead! Give me another!"

"Manehattan."

"Population."

"Er… a million, I think." she said uneasily.

"A million dead!" I shouted. "One more!"

"Uh… Canterlot. Population is a million and some change."

"All of them: dead! So, pardon my saving of your life. I can't open the Rift Metro yet, which is a private business, by the way, so I can open and close it whenever I God damn please!" I shouted.

"Is everything okay?" whispered my battle-scarred wife. "I heard shouting." I turned around to see Fluttershy standing in the train car, the moonlight dancing in her scar-ridden face. She stood there patiently, twirling the end of her blouse and straightening her skirt.

"Oh… Er… everything's fine, honey. I was just having a little tiff about the Rift Metro. Nothing to worry about." I said panickedly.

"Your husband was racially persecuting me and I am very offended." said the lady.

"I'm very sorry to hear that." said Fluttershy, digging into her purse.

"What?! Racial persecution?! But we're both pegasi! How can I be racist towards my own race?!" I exclaimed.

"Now Christian, we have to be polite." answered my wife, pulling out a plastic card. She handed it to the mare. She looked at it confusedly for quite a few moments before voicing her concern.

"What the hell is this?" she asked, just as politely as she had been the whole conversation.

"Free Rift rides for life. Just slip this card in instead of your fare and it'll let you in." said Fluttershy. "I hope this makes up for my husband's little outburst."

"Hm… I don't think it does."

"Did I mention that this also wires a hundred bits directly into your balance?"

"And now it does. I'll be seeing you later." said the mare. She rushed out of the train car, leaving me alone with Fluttershy.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I just didn't want any trouble." she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. What's up with you?"

"Can't sleep. I don't think anypony can. I just keep thinking about the twins."

"They're fine. Twilight is tending to them. Besides, we'll see them soon." I said, hugging her. "Everything is going to be okay."

"But what if we go to war again?"

"Yeah, I'd be concerned too. For our enemies, that is." I chuckled. "We have you on our side, after all."

"I don't want to have to do that again. Not all of my scars are physical, you know." she said quietly. I ran my hand slowly down her face, my hand stopping on a short, jagged scar beneath her eye.

"How'd you get this one?" I asked.

"Pinkie threw a grenade. A changeling kicked it back and a piece of shrapnel hit me in the face." she answered.

"And this one?" I asked, pointing at a hole in her left ear.

"Took a bullet while fighting Discord. I couldn't believe he even considered using guns." she said. "What's bringing this about?"

"Why won't you let Twilight heal your scars? Or Isaiah? They could repair them in five minutes, easy."

"I like a reminder of what I fight for. With these, I never forget what might happen, and what I have to do."

"But don't they bring back bad memories?"

"Of course. But that's what I need. I need to remember that this can happen again. By the looks of it, it already is. Do they bother you? If they bother you, I can get them repaired. I just thought…"

"No, it's fine. I just feel really guilty about it." I said. "It was my fault you had to take over."

"Actually, it was my fault. If I didn't need you to protect me…"

"Don't be ridiculous. Even if you brought a weapon, I would've gotten hurt trying to impress you."

"You're not stupid. You would've been fine. You would've gotten us out in time and we might've even saved the princesses."

"Everything happens for a reason." I said. "If we would've ended the war early, we might not have ended up together. I think a war is fair trade for you, Fluttershy."

"You don't really think that."

"I would start a thousand wars for you." I said, kissing her softly. "A thousand more for the kids."

"But can you end one? Or even better, can you prevent one?"

"As long as I have my friends beside me, I can do anything. Speaking of which, are we going to be the last there?"

"I think so. Spike isn't going, Rarity never left the Crystal Castle and the rest just had to go pick up a few things. Besides us, it's just Dashie and Applejack."

_RIIING!_

"Talk of the devil." I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket and putting it to my ear. "Talk to me, Dash."

"What is taking you guys so long?" she asked.

"We're on the train. How long ago did you guys get there?" I asked.

"About 2 minutes ago. Hurry up, Silver! We have work to do!"

"I know that! I'm the one who had to fight to get _you_ off _your_ ass and to the castle!" I said.

"Meh. I'm bad at remembering details. See you later." she said before hanging up her phone.

"What am I going to do with her?" I said exasperatedly. "We should be arriving at the castle soon. Get some rest while you can, dear. Something tells me we have a long day ahead of us."


	2. Sombra's Stolen Corpses

We got to the station at twenty minutes past 3. When we stopped, Fluttershy and I grabbed our bags and departed for Princess Twilight's castle. We walked through the streets quietly, trying to avoid the civilians who would try to swarm us. We'd gotten quite famous over the years, so we had more than a few cases of ponies walking up to us and bombarding us with questions and comments and concerns and bullshit, such as the woman on the train. By some miracle, we made it down to the Crystal Castle bunker undetected. Sitting at a round war table were my best friends in the world. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Robert and Isaiah, all of them in Chameleon Armor suits, except for Robert, who was in his golden Royal Guard armor. He was also the only one with a weapon, his favorite, square-headed, steel warhammer, Mjolnir.

"What's going on, everypony?" I asked, dropping my backpack on the table. "Where are the kids?"

"Right here." said Spencer, walking into the room. Behind him was his sister, Marceline, their best friend, Storm, and the two new princesses, rightly named Celestia and Luna. Spencer's left leg was bandaged, Celestia had bandages around her midsection, and Luna had some on her left side. They weren't in armor, instead they were in t-shirts and jeans.

"Hey, Dad." said Marceline. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you since last week. Since… you know… the incident."

"I was sealing off all Rifts and scouting the area. Which reminds me: Here's your watch, Robert. The spell is dead." I said, taking it off and tossing it to him. "How's your injuries?"

"Their still healing." said Spencer. "How come we can't we just fix them with magic?"

"We explained this to you already." said Luna. "That knife was not ordinary steel. It was cursed iron of some sort. Every time we try to heal them with magic, they open up twice as wide."

"Just give them time. They'll most likely heal on their own." said Celestia.

"How about you two? Isaiah? Robert? Up and moving yet?" I asked.

"Mostly." answered Isaiah. "We're a little stiff is all."

"Good. Everypony's here and ready to fight. That being said, Spencer and Marceline are going to go somewhere safe, Storm is going to follow them, and I would advise that the princesses do the same, although I can't really make them."

"What? Dad, I think you need to lay off the Crazy Pills." said Marceline. "We're going to fight, aren't we?"

"No, _we're_ going to fight." said Fluttershy. "You two are leaving. It's too dangerous."

"We can handle ourselves!" replied my daughter, her hair seeming to glow redder the more she spoke.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can." I said sarcastically. "Just like you handled yourself while getting captured."

"When are you going to let that go? That was last week!"

"Yes, it was a week. A week since the most dangerous pony in Equestria marked you as targets. Speaking of which, how did he get you?"

"Er… I was taking a nap." said Marceline.

"Yeah, and you know how my sweet, dear sister sleeps." said Spencer. "I was busy reading a book when he got me."

"How about you two, princesses?"

"We were practicing escape methods." answered Celestia. "I chained up Luna and I let her do the same to me."

"Then we cast a magic suppression spell on the room." supplied Luna. "While we were struggling, he just strolled in and grabbed us. Totally wasn't our fault, right Daddy?"

"Hm. Hate to say it, but it sort of was." said Isaiah. "It's fine, though. Everypony makes mistakes."

"No, normal ponies make mistakes. We're slipping up." said Luna.

"Anyway…" I said. "I need all the fillies and colts to find somewhere safe to hide out at until this is over with."

"Well, good thing there aren't any fillies and colts here." said Marcy. "All I see are mares and stallions. We're grown-ups, Dad. Men and women, not boys and girls."

"If you still use the phrase 'grown-ups' then you're clearly not one."

"We're not children anymore."

"You're 16." I said simply.

"How old were you when you fought?"

"18! And they were completely different circumstances!"

"How so?" asked Spencer.

"Uh, my father wasn't telling me not to! Plus, I was all they had. I'm sure that if Princess Celestia had more time and resources, she would've picked someone who had some sort of clue of what they were doing."

"Chris, I don't know if this is going to sway you any, but if Storm wants to help, me and Pinkie are going to let her." said Robert.

"Well, there you go Marcy. An even bigger reason you shouldn't be here!"

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're a psycho!" I exclaimed. "I'm not having it! Spencer. Marceline. You are leaving."

"What about us, Daddy?" asked Luna. "Can we help?"

"I don't know. What do you think, Twi?" asked Isaiah.

"I've seen what they can do and I have faith in them. You have my permission." answered the princess.

"Thanks, Mom!" said Celestia excitedly.

"How come they can go?" asked Marceline.

"Their parents are fine with it. Your parents aren't. That's about it."

"But…" began Spencer.

"Butts are for sitting!" I shouted.

"But…"

"But nothing!"

"Dad!" shouted Marceline.

"Marceline Adele Brookes! I told you once and I'll tell you again: No!"

"My, oh my! Is there really need get so loud, Silver Rift, sir?" asked a very polite, bright white unicorn wearing a denim jacket who had just walked in. Her eyes were pale grey like the streaks in her white mane and her horn curved ever so slightly, so the tip was pointing upwards rather than forwards.

"Alexandria." I said. "I almost forgot about you. Hear anything from Alex?"

"Unfortunately, no. I fear that she has completely blocked our telepathic connection. I do, however, occasionally get glimpses." she said. "Just a quick flash of King Sombra's face and the similar."

"Are you protected from her mental attacks?"

"Yes, although I doubt she will resort to such methods. Now that I can and will fight back, she is most likely save that for the most dire of situations."

"Good." I said. "That's good to hear. Can you please escort my children somewhere safe?"

RIING!

"Ugh. I'm about ready to get rid of this damned thing." I said. I opened up my phone and saw that the call was from Sarah. I put the phone to my ear and heard a soft crying. "You okay?"

"My parents passed away." she said.

"What?!" I exclaimed. "No! That's awful!"

"I know and I really need you right now. Can you please come down?" she asked.

"Um… Damn! I really want to, but I'm sort of in the middle of something."

"What could be more important than this?"

"Sombra's back and on the loose. I'm trying to stop him." I said.

"I think this might be related."

"Really? How?"

"Can somebody write this down?" she asked.

"Sure." I said, pressing the speaker symbol. "You're on speaker phone."

"Okay. They were completely fine on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they were admitted to the hospital where they had a heart attack and died. Yesterday, Thursday, their bodies disappeared. No one knows where they are, but I think Sombra took them."

"That's a pretty bold assumption, Red." said Fluttershy. "Is there anything else that would imply that Sombra was involved?"

RIING!

"Damn, now I'm ringing." said War, putting his phone to his ear. "What' shaking?"

"No, I don't have anything else." said Sarah. "But don't you think it's worth a look?"

"Maybe when we're not so busy. I swear I'll come talk to you and help you through this, but I have to deal with this."

"What?!" shouted War happily. "You're joking! You can't be serious! Did he suffer? That is excellent! I'll sign the papers later! I need a drink." He hung up his phone and grabbed a flask from a hidden pocket in his armor.

"Dude, it's 3 in the morning. How can you be drinking this early?" asked Conjure.

"It's the Russian in me coming out. We just love our vodka!" he said, swallowing a sip. "And besides, this is a special occasion! My old man's dead!"

"Ya don't seem very upset." said Aj.

"Why would I be? He was an evil, sadistic, rapist, cannibal. He deserves all the pain that he received." said Robert, taking another swig.

"What do you mean?" asked Rarity.

"My dad, Ivan Azarov, was known as the Sawtoothed Slicer. He was a psychopath who sharpened his teeth to better his needs of ripping flesh. He would abduct people, stash them in his basement, rape them, eat them, then dump the remains on my mother while she slept. When my mom got pregnant with me, she ran away to the States. She gave birth, stood with me until I was 2, left back to Russia and was thrown in an asylum. He completely destroyed my life and now I can celebrate as I bury him!"

"That's very dark and creepy, Dad. When is he going to be buried?" asked Storm.

"As soon as they find his body." he laughed.

"So that's three people connected to us who have died and disappeared." I said. "Weird, but not worth assuming that it's Sombra."

"I just got an email from my mom." said Isaiah sadly. He began to tear up, but he held them in. He was really good at hiding his emotions until he was alone. "My favorite uncle, Richard died. He crashed his car into a lake. Guess what they're searching for."

"Missing too, huh? We're up to four missing bodies, each of them related to us in some manner. This is strange. Maybe just a coincidence." I said dubiously. Just then, a guard rushed into the room.

"Princess Twilight, Prince Conjure! I have terrible news!" he said bowing.

"What happened?" asked Twilight.

"The bodies of Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence have vanished! I already sent out a team to search for the grave robbers, but we've found nothing as of yet." he reported.

"Celestia, Luna and Cadence are gone." sighed Twilight. "Thank you for telling me. Please, keep searching."

"Yes, your highness." he said bustling out of the room.

"Enough proof that King Sombra is behind this?" asked Alexandria.

"I don't think so." I said, clinging to the hopeless thought. Just then, a thin beam of red light burst from Alexandria's horn. The beam formed itself into a full size, colored, holographic image of Sombra, who was wearing his usual grey armor.

"Hello, Silver Rift." he growled.

"I'm gonna call you back, Sarah." I said, hanging up my phone. "Why can't I just be right for once?"

"I'm going to skip the witty monologue simply because I don't have time." said Sombra. "I've been quite busy this week. I've done a fair bit of complicated research, I got my army together, got engaged…"

"What?" asked RD. "Who'd want to marry you?"

"Who wouldn't?!" asked a familiar voice. She seemed very proud and arrogant. "You'd be lucky if Lord Sombra gave you a sideways glance!"

"Calm down, Alex." said the King of Shadows. "I never expected them to understand."

"You sick bastard!" shouted Rarity. "That's my daughter! She's 16 years old you vile, disgusting pig!"

"I'm not talking about my servant, you fool. I meant… well, you'll see her soon enough."

"What do you want, Sombra?" I asked, eager to get to the point.

"Just to give you a warning. You know, the usual, 'give up or I'll see you slaughtered and your children tortured, etcetera, etcetera'. Oh, and I have the corpses you're looking for." he said, raising seven caskets with his levitation.

"That's low, Sombra." said Twilight angrily. "Digging up corpses?"

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." said Celestia.

"I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with this madness." said Sombra. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"


	3. Making Plans

"Like I said, I have the corpses, along with countless others." said Sombra. "I'm willing to work out a deal with you."

"What's in it for us?" asked Marceline.

"Marcy, please be quiet." I said. "But she brings up a good point. Why do we want this?"

"You get to live, for one. For another, Alexandria there will get to speak with her dear friend Alex. And, last but not least, you'll get… Oops. Almost gave it away." laughed Sombra. "Spoilers."

"May I speak to her now?" asked Alexandria. "Please, sir?"

"Hmm… I don't know. You don't sound like you want it. Maybe a bow will sway me." Alexandria dropped to her knees and bowed to Sombra.

"Please, King Sombra. I beg of you, let me speak to my friend." she said.

"I'm not sure. You don't seem to be as excited about my presence as Alex. Whenever I walk in the room, I'm met with 'Hello, master. What may I do for you, Lord Sombra?'. Why can't you be more like her?" asked Sombra.

"Please, master." begged Alexandria. "Lord Sombra, please allow me this request."

"Oh, how I love that! Soon, all of Equestria will know me as their master!" laughed Sombra. "Alex. Your friend would like to speak with you." Sombra slowly stepped out of view, and in his place walked Alex, also in grey steel armor.

"Hey! Are you wearing my jacket?" asked Alex. "Just because I left doesn't mean you get free range to my stuff!"

"Alex!" exclaimed Alexandria, jumping to her hooves. "How are you?"

"Better than before. Hard to believe, but Lord Sombra is more amazing than I could have ever imagined!"

"How are you contacting me?"

"I didn't completely block off our telepathic link. I was able to project our image through your horn. Thanks for the magic, by the way."

"Yes, and thank you for the wings. They are quite wonderful."

"I hate to interrupt, but I need to talk to Alex." I said. "Hello, Alex. I'm Silver Rift. Remember me? You kidnapped me and made me fight my wife for the threat that you'd kill my children? Ring any bells?"

"Sarcasm is considered the lowest form of wit." said Alex.

"Only to those who have never mastered the art, and those who always fall victim to it." I replied.

"What do you want?"

"To understand, amongst other things. For instance, I'd like to understand why you're working with Sombra."

"Because that is why I exist. I was created to serve Lord Sombra in any and every way I can."

"You realize that he will likely kill you as soon as you stop being useful, right?"

"Duh. I wouldn't want to live if I was useless to him."

"So, you understand that he doesn't care about you at all?"

"Of course he cares about me." she said. "What makes you think he doesn't?"

"Because you're his slave! You're cannon fodder, a tool, a plaything! If you died right now, he'd kick your corpse to the curb and put out an ad in the Classifieds looking for new help!"

"Yes, and that's great. If I died without his permission, then he should certainly find someone better than me." she said.

"You're gonna keep going until he tells you to die?"

"Of course."

"What do you even do for him?"

"I run errands, do chores, protect him, entertain him. You know, whatever he asks me to do."

"Entertain him? How?"

"It depends what he's in the mood for. Sometimes he'll stab me over and over until I pass out, sometimes I dance for him, sometimes I pour bleach into my eyes. After I pray to him on Sunday, he electrocutes me to see how many volts I can take. Like I said, if Lord Sombra asks me to do it, I do it."

"You have my daughter torturing herself for your amusement?" asked Rarity angrily. "Sombra, when I get my hands on you, I will shred you and empty your bits into my fireplace!"

"You will not lay a hand on my master! I won't allow you!"

"I'll destroy your master and bring you back home!"

"Dash, Aj, please handle Rarity." I said. Applejack and RD led Rarity out of the bunker, trying their best to calm her down.

"It's alright, sugarcube." said Applejack. "Ah reckon we'll find him lickety-split!"

"Then we can show him not to mess with us!" said Rainbow, closing the door.

"Now that that's done with, I have one last question." I said. "Why haven't you killed us yet?"

"Simple. Lord Sombra and I know that we wouldn't be able to take all of you, even with War and that idiot Conjure dead."

"That's _Prince_ Conjure." said Celestia.

"And _General_ War." chimed Robert, taking another swig from his flask.

"What? You survived? I thought Alexandria was screwing with my mind! How could you be alive?"

"What, you mean after that knife in the chest? I used Vitality. Besides, that stab was self-congratulatory garbage. And you didn't even slit Isaiah's throat correctly."

"I'm pretty sure she did." said Conjure, massaging his neck.

"Nope. If she did it like I taught her, you'd have been dead faster than I could have used Vitality."

"Glad you're on our side." I said, shaking my head. "Listen, Alex, it'd be wise if you surrendered. Give yourself up now, you'll get a slap on the wrist. A year or two in prison, tops."

"It's not too late to do the right thing, Alex." said Alexandria.

"Dear Sombra, you're dumb." said Alex, rolling her eyes. "You still can't see that I _am_ doing the right thing."

"You're killing ponies, Alex. That's not right at all."

"Yes it is, because Lord Sombra told me to. You know, it's not too late for you to join us."

"What?!" I asked. "She would never help you!"

"He is correct, Alex. I refuse to help you kill innocent people in an attempt to rule Equestria." said Alexandria.

"Come on, stupid! Can't you see you're on the losing side? If you join us now, I promise Lord Sombra will only torture you for a week. If we capture you in battle, it'll be much worse, and then you'll be killed."

"What was that? About us being on the losing side?" asked Marceline. "We're pretty set, actually."

"I don't want to sound braggy, but we could probably take you two down." said Spencer.

"Is that so?" said Sombra, pushing Alex out of frame and taking her spot. "You seem quite confident."

"Thank you for making this harder for me, kids." I said. "Yes, I am confident. You know why?"

"No, I don't. Enlighten me."

"Because this is different than last time we fought. Before, we were untrained, unprepared, and immature. We were the definition of desperation. But now, we're prepared and skilled, we have an army and reinforcements. We've changed, gone from a militia to a military, from sentries to soldiers, from Defenders to Warriors. And we will not lose."

"I'm sorry, I spaced out after the word 'untrained'. Can you please repeat all of that? I'm sure it was great, deep and inspirational, but I have trouble focusing on empty threats." said Sombra.

"You're more cocky than usual, Sombra. What are you planning?" I asked.

"You'll see soon enough. Unless you decide to surrender, of course. This is your last chance."

"Sombra, you don't seem to get it." said Luna. "We're not surrendering. We have kingdoms to rule, people to protect. We will not back down."

"Fair enough. Alex! Send him!" growled Sombra. "Well, it's been fun chatting, but I really must go. Fluttershy's corpse will make the perfect gift for my fiance, and I must prepare that. Farewell." His image flickered and disappeared, leaving all of us very confused.

"What was that last part?" asked Marceline. "I know he doesn't think he's going to hurt Mom."

"Alexandria, what do you think Sombra meant? When he told Alex to send someone?" I asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, sir. I really haven't a clue. As far as I know, Alex is King Sombra's only ally."

"Changelings?" I asked.

"Impossible." said Celestia. "We have an understanding with Chrysalis."

"Besides, there's no way she gained the will or the resources for war in two years." added Luna.

"Then who could it be?" asked Conjure.

KNOCK!

KNOCK

Someone knocked loudly on the door. I strolled over and opened it, unamused. I made it very clear that we were not to be bothered. As soon as the door opened, I was knocked to the ground by a charging black figure. The changeling charged at Twilight with a bladed hand as Celestia and Luna shot streams of lightning out of their horns. They both connected with it's midsection and the changeling fell to the ground, squirming and twitching.

"What the hell?!" shouted Twilight. "Chrysalis is involved!"

"Did you kill them?" asked Spencer.

"I sent 30,000 volts of electricity through his body." said Celestia.

"As did I." said Luna. "There's no way it survived."

"'It' has a name." said the changeling, rising to it's hooves. "Or 'It' used to, anyway."

"How did you survive?" asked War.

"I was told to. I'm really sorry about this." he grew three more blades on his wrist and rushed at Robert. War whipped his hammer off of his back and swung downwards, smashing the changeling's skull and shattering the hammer in the process.

"Dammit!" he said. "I just polished her!"

"Her?" I asked.

"Shut up. We have bigger worries. Like an unkillable changeling." said War, pointing at the corpse. His head slowly repaired itself, small pieces of flesh being dragged together by some invisible hand to recreate a skull. The changeling rose up once more and rushed at Luna. Luna ducked the blade, spun around, grabbed the enemy by it's head and snapped its neck. Once more, the changeling got back up. He twisted his head back into position and lurched forward for Celestia.

"We killed you three times." said Celestia. She aimed her horn and fired a beam of yellow light, which hit the changeling squarely in the chest. He began to float a few feet in the air, where he was surrounded by a yellow bubble of light. The changeling tried to escape, but to no avail.

"What is that?" asked Conjure. "Quantum-static particle bubble?"

"Yes, but this one actually is unbreakable, unlike Sombra's." answered Celestia. "What do you think we should do with him?"

"You and Luna should bring him to Chrysalis and ask her what's going on." I said, thinking of a strategy. "Something's not right about this and I want to figure out what."

"We're on it." said Luna. She grabbed her sister's hand and teleported out, taking the changeling with them.

"What about us, Chris?" asked War, dropping the shaft of his hammer to the ground.

"Replace your hammer, then take Storm, Aj and Rarity to get the Crusaders. We need all the help we can get." I said. I opened up a Rift for them that would take them where they needed to go.

"I'll see you later, baby." said Robert, kissing Pinkie. "Let's go, Storm." They went into the back room, War's favorite room in the castle, the armory.

"Isaiah and Twilight, I need you to do everything you can to trace the communication spell back to Sombra. Alexandria, help them in any way you can."

"Come over here, Alexandria." said Conjure. "We'll need you for this."

"That leaves me, you, Dashie, Pinkie and the kids." said Fluttershy.

"RD and Pinkie are going to gather the army. You're with me. We're going to talk to Sarah about her parents. Maybe something'll turn up." I said.

"What about us, Dad?" asked Marceline.

"Yeah, what do we do?" chimed her brother.

"Tough call, Chris." said Fluttershy. "We don't have a lot of time, and we need all the help we can get. You're good at making decisions under pressure, so call the play."

"Ugh." I groaned. "Fine. Twins, you're with us. Don't make me regret this."

"Excellent!" said Marcy. "Let's go!"

"Move out, everybody." I said. "I want to be done here as soon as possible. I learned from last time that Fluttershy and Sarah should never be in the same room together."


	4. New Info and Old Faces

Fluttershy, Marceline and Spencer tripped through the Rift behind me into Jackson's restaurant. The building was completely empty, save for a crying redhead sitting at a booth. As soon as I saw her, a wave of grief flew over me.

"Sarah?" I asked softly. "Are you okay?" She whipped her head around in confusion and seemed much better when she realized it was me.

"Chris?" she sniffled. "You came?"

"Yeah. The kids are here, too. And… Fluttershy." I said uneasily. "Please don't fight, I don't have time for it."

"As if there's anything she can say to make me feel any worse than I do now." she said, inhaling deeply. Sarah took a few moments to regain her composure completely, then continued. "I don't want trouble, Fluttershy. My parents just died."

"Well, we're not here so you have a shoulder to cry on, Red. We're here on business." said Fluttershy, slipping back into her gruff, commando personality.

"What do you mean?"

"Tell us about what happened." I said. "Tell me everything about how Mr. and Mrs. J… Oh my god. They're gone. I just can't believe it. They're really, honestly, truly gone."

"Thanks for making me feel better, Chris." she answered sarcastically.

"Sarcasm is considered the lowest form of wit." I quoted.

"Only to those who have never mastered the art, and those who-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just tell me what happened." I said.

"Like I said, on Tuesday, they were perfectly fine. They worked and everything normally, no signs of health problems. The next day, they complained of chest pains, so I took them to the emergency room. I stood with them and fell asleep in the room. When I woke up, they were dead. Thursday, yesterday, their bodies disappeared completely, no trace. I think Sombra might have been behind it."

"I think you're half right." I said, piecing together what happened. "They didn't die of a heart attack."

"Sombra killed them?"

"Not quite. You killed them." I said grimly.

"What?! Why would you say something like that?" she asked.

"Your story doesn't make sense. There's a giant hole in it."

"Which is?"

"Today is Saturday, making yesterday Friday. You lost an entire day."

"That's impossible." she said, grasping her head. "I couldn't have forgotten an entire day."

"No, you couldn't have because you have a goddamned photographic memory. So I can think of only one possible answer."

"Sombra cast a spell on the Jacksons that gave them chest pain that would make them go to the hospital." said Marceline. "Then he placed some sort of mind control on Aunt Sarah."

"Then he made Sarah kill her parents and deliver the bodies to him." added Spencer. "That took about a day, which is why she can't remember any of it."

"Wow." said Fluttershy. "You can't deny, Silver. They're good."

"Yeah, well, they come from the best." I said.

"Hello? Back to the important things?" said Sarah shakily. "So, you're saying I killed my parents? Don't you think that's rather presumptuous?"

"No, not exactly. I'm pretty confident that's what happened." I explained. "You see, if you were in complete control of your actions, you would've taken them to an Equestrian hospital. Plus, you're eyes are typically blue."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Right now, they're red. Sombra's spell is just wearing off." I said. "If it was still in effect, you would've killed us all by now."

"So I killed my mom and dad?" asked Sarah with horror.

"Don't think of it like that." said Marceline. "Think of it like you were a tool used to get a job done. You're like a gun, Sombra's a shooter. Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

"That doesn't matter. I feel like shit. Worse than before, and I didn't even know that was possible."

"Well, you're about to feel even worse, because Sombra has their bodies. I don't know what he's planning yet, so I can't stop him. Yet." I said. "Meaning that I will stop him."

"I'm sure you will."

"No, you don't understand. I'm either coming back with Sombra's head on a pike or I'm not coming back at all. I will defeat him."

"I have faith in you, Chris." said Sarah. "You've never let me done before."

"And I'm not starting today. I'm going to get us through this."

"We get it, Silver." said Fluttershy. "Why do you keep saying it?"

"I figure that if I keep saying it, I'll convince myself." I said. "If I'm being totally honest with you, I have no clue at all how I'm going to pull this off." I'm sure somepony would've said something about how confidence is a good thing to have and that I should believe in myself, if the changeling hadn't walked in. He stopped right in front of Sarah and looked at her sadly.

"Sarah Jackson?" he asked.

"This is she." she said uneasily.

"I'm sorry I have to do this." he said. He transformed his right hand into a blade and lunged onto Sarah. He wrestled her to the ground as me and the kids looked on in horror. Nopony had brought their weapons. Or so I thought, for it wasn't Spencer, it wasn't Marceline, it wasn't me, but Fluttershy who reacted. She dove into her purse and yanked out her favorite SMG. She aimed at the changeling and fired roughly a dozen shots into it's side, spraying green blood all over the floor. He collapsed on Sarah, who pushed him off and scrambled backwards. Fluttershy dug in her purse again, this time pulling out a small handgun.

"Don't you dare die on me, Red." she said, tossing Sarah the gun. She caught it and inspected it, turning it over to get a feel for it.

"Why do you care?" asked Sarah.

"If I bite the dust out there, Chris is going to need someone cute to get over me with." said Fluttershy, winking at Sarah. "And I'd rather it be you than any of the other bimbos he's gone out with."

"How do you know about my exes?" I asked. "I never, _ever_ talk about them."

"I know all about Mahogany, who went out with you on a bet, Lucinda, who picked on you for being a brony, Ramona, who cheated on you, Stacey, who cheated on you, Nicolette, who turned out to be Nicholas, Cassie, who cheated on you, Vanessa, who cheated on you with Nicholas, who cheated on her…"

"Don't forget about Jennifer." said Sarah. "Who also cheated on him."

"I get it! I've been cheated on! A lot." I said grumpily. I couldn't believe this crap. Every guy's worst nightmare: The Missus and the Ex, working together. "But how do you know about this?"

"War told me."

"Why were you talking to War?! You two hate each other!"

"No, we have very strong disagreements. None of that matters when he busts out the vodka."

"No way do you drink that! You know he makes that himself, right? Exterminators order that stuff and use it as rat poison! How are you still alive?"

"A better question would probably be 'How is the changeling still alive?'" said Sarah. The changeling slowly rose to it's hooves and lurched forward slowly. Sarah pointed the gun at the changelings head. She pulled the trigger once, dropping the changeling on it's back, and the gun out of Sarah's hand.

"Ow!" cried Sarah. "The kick on that thing is intense!"

"We have to go." I said, opening a Rift. "Everypony in!"

"What's going on?" asked Marceline. "Dad? Why won't they die?"

"Oh, Marceline, you can still talk." I said, ushering them through the Rift. I tripped through the other side behind them, back into the war room of the Crystal Castle. The room was empty, meaning that nopony else was done with their jobs. I closed the Rift and took a seat on the table.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I just meant that you were awfully quiet. Not like you at all."

"Sorry. I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole 'Nicholas' thing." she said smugly. "How long did that last? Did you do anything together?"

"It was a week and I had no idea he was a guy. I was a freshman, he was a senior and he was just joking with me. We didn't do anything. We were about to kiss when I tripped and touched his chest and realised the boobs were fake. Nothing happened. At all. I swear."

"This is neither the time nor the place to be talking about this." said Spencer. "We have to get to the bottom of this changeling issue." Just then, a yellow haze appeared in front of us, followed quickly by a blue smoke to the left. Two pops of light later, and the Young Princesses appeared, this time, sans changeling.

"Ah, so the princesses arrive. Most of them anyway." I said. They seemed very taken aback, so I bowed my head slightly. The twins, Fluttershy and Sarah did the same, and the princesses felt slightly better. Slightly.

"The nerve of that Chrysalis!" shouted Luna. "All we have done for her and not even a measly bow?"

"Very disrespectful." said Celestia. "All we wanted was a simple answer to a series of relatively simple questions! Granted, the questions we asked may have been very confusing to her, but she didn't have to answer the way she did."

"What happened?" asked Marceline.

"We brought her the changeling and asked about him." said Luna.

"She stunned me and made me drop the changeling, who hurried his flank right out the door." said Celestia. "I asked her about it, and she gave us a very cryptic answer."

"What she said was 'The darkness approaches. My changelings are enslaved, and only my greatest ally, my worst enemy can liberate them with the sweet release of death'. What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm the only one who can kill her children, something she desperately wants." I said. "The question now being 'why'?"

"How do you figure that?" asked Luna.

"Other than Twily, I'm the only one who poses any sort of threat to her and, unlike Twilight, I'd like to think that we are some sort of friends. Why does she want me to kill them? If she wanted them to die, which is unlikely, she could kill them herself. Why does she need me?"

"Simple." said Twilight, walking in from the back room, followed by Conjure and Alexandria. "Because you are impossible and therefore do impossible things. The thing she needs you to do is, at the risk of sounding redundant, impossible."

"That clears it up." I said sarcastically. "What did you guys find?"

"All we know about King Sombra's location is that he's in the United States of America." said Alexandria. "But we did discover something rather interesting."

"Such as?" asked Spencer.

"The changeling that tried to kill us couldn't die because it was already dead." said Conjure. "I think you'll find it quite hard to kill a corpse."

"That makes less sense than what Chris told me about my parents and I wasn't aware that was possible." said Sarah. "What do you mean?"

"Let's wait until the others get here." I said. "I don't think Isaiah wants to repeat himself."

Turns out that we didn't have to wait that long. About five minutes later, RD and Pinkie were back, followed by War, sporting a new hammer aptly named Thor, Storm, Rarity, Aj, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all three in golden guard armor. They all congregated around Isaiah, who began his explanation. Not much was said before my ever-so-focused daughter asked for the most important thing in the world for this situation.

"Is there a TV in here?" she asked.

"Really?" said Sarah in disbelief. "Is that important?"

"I want to watch the news. Maybe I can figure something out." Celestia snapped her fingers and a small television appeared in the corner of the room. Another snap, this time from Luna, brought a remote control into Marceline's hands. She ran off to the corner and began to flip through the channels. My daughter, ladies and gents.

"It's fine." said Spencer. "Now that the children are gone, the adults can talk in peace."

"Hush, boy." said Fluttershy. "Go on, Twilight."

"Okay." said the princess. "King Sombra is bringing darkness across Equestria. How, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. He's trying to raise the dead, something very, very impossible. Sombra, however, has found a way."

"How?" I asked. "What is he doing?"

"He took about half of the changelings from Chrysalis and slaughtered them." said Conjure. "Then he brought them back to life somehow. They are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. We have no way of killing them."

"Immortal changelings?" asked War. "Do they still have their shape-shifting powers?"

"As far as we know." said Alexandria. "But how are they immortal?"

"This is impossible! In order for that many people to be brought back from the dead, there would have to be someone helping them out from the other side." said Storm. "I'm guessing, anyway."

"The changelings are on the loose, are unkillable, and they apparently have no control over themselves, which make them infinitely more dangerous." I said, rubbing my temples. "This is bad."

"We need a way to differentiate ourselves from them." said War.

"I don't think we need to." said Marceline. "Look here." I turned around and looked at the screen. My jaw dropped at what I saw. On the screen was an image of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, Aj, Rainbow, Conjure, War and myself, all of us with our hands chained behind our backs. They (we) were in an empty basement, standing in a row. Into the picture stepped an orange unicorn mare with bright, angry cyan eyes and a vibrant orange and yellow mane. Impossible. She couldn't be there, but yet, there she was.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Earth and Equestria." said Sunset Shimmer. "This is your new queen speaking. Lately, as I'm sure you can see, your princess has been… shall we say, tied up?"


	5. Sombra's Intimidation

"I have your princess in chains, as you can see." she said. "And I think I'll let my husband explain why." King Sombra stepped past me (this was almost as bizarre as when I was in Fluttershy's body.) and looked directly into the camera. He smiled wickedly and handed Sunset Shimmer a knife.

"This is King… No. _Lord_ Sombra speaking. I'm growing rather fond of the name." he said. "Lord Sombra. You're ruler. Behind me are the Defenders of Harmony, the only beings who could ever defeat me." He nodded towards Shimmer, who brought the knife against the Silver-Rift-Wannabe's neck. She swiped quickly, slitting its throat, spraying out blood and dropping it dead. She moved on to War, then Conjure, RD, Aj, Rarity, Twi and, lastly, Fluttershy. My heart snapped as I watched my friends drop to the ground, dead.

"They are no more." said Shimmer.

"Well, there you are." said Sombra. "Dead. I'm in charge now. Surrender now and you will be spared. You have one hour. If I do not have a formal surrender before then, I will kill a random ambassador of the United Nations of Earth. Twenty minutes later, I'll kill two more. Twenty more, and I'll kill four and so on. If I run out of UNE representatives, I will bring my blade upon civilians. Now, as for their children. I shouldn't have to punish you for mistakes they made, so I will allow you to surrender as well. Do not fight. Fight, and you will be killed. Run, and you will be killed. Hide, and you will be killed. Be smart about this. I don't think Rainbow Dash would want you to die like she did, Scootaloo. Nor do I think that the princess herself would like for her legacy to end with Celestia and Luna. Not to mention that somepony has to bake the cakes, so why not Storm? And who would keep the Rifts running without Spencer and Marceline?"

"That bastard." I whispered.

"One hour." said Sombra. "One hour before I bring down my blade upon the Earth. Spend your time wisely." He snapped his fingers and the feed died, leaving nothing but static on the screen. I turned to face my friends (save for Sarah, Storm, and my twins.), all of which were standing in a circle, pointing guns at one another.

"Lower your weapons." I commanded. Conjure turned and aimed at me in answer.

"Sombra just killed Chris." he said. "Who are you?"

"Relax! I saw him kill you, too. We have to start trusting each other." I said.

"We need a way to prove who's who." said Robert, taking another swig of vodka. "We share something nopony knows about us."

"How would that…" began Sarah.

"Me first." he cut in. "My favorite type of music… is polka."

"What?" I asked. "Polka?"

"Yes. I've always had a weakness for the accordion. Now share yours."

"Well, I know that's Robert." said Isaiah. "Only he would say something as nonsensical as that."

"Babe, if some of us are changelings, how would telling more about us help figure out who's who?" asked Pinkie. Robert thought about it for a second, then slammed his shotgun to the floor.

"Damn it! I was so confident!"

"It's just the drink, baby." she said, taking his flask from him.

"I'm getting a transmission from King Sombra." said Alexandria. Another beam of red flew from her horn, projecting the King of Shadows' image into the room.

"Checkmate, Silver." he said. "What are you going to do now?"

"What was the point of that?" I asked.

"Fear." he answered. "Not just to scare the humans, but to scare the remaining Defenders."

"What do you mean?" asked Marceline.

"A number of you in this room are working with me. The question now is what number?"

"Sombra, I'm going to rip you apart if you killed Chris." said Fluttershy. She looked back at Sarah and seemed to reconsider. "You know what? Not me. Red will do it. Have you ever gotten between her and Chris? I married him and she's almost killed me twice. Imagine what she'll do to you if you actually hurt him."

"I'll split him with you, Chubs." said Sarah. "We'll take shifts."

"As you can see, we're not scared." I said.

"You're about to be. Look outside." answered Sombra. Twilight snapped her fingers and a small square of the crystal wall disappeared. In it's place was an image of outside at ground level, something we couldn't normally see as we were in the basement. Hovering about 75 feet in the air were three alicorns, one white, one blue and one light pink. We couldn't see them well, but we all knew who they were. Twilight backed against the wall, grasping it in disbelief as the Three Late Princesses of Equestria fired huge waves of energy down to the ground. Whatever the wave touched evaporated into nothing. They fired again and again, obliterating the Crystal Empire. We could do nothing but watch the fifth and final wave hit and the three princesses disappear.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Sombra. "The three former princesses of Equestria are now my puppets. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Why did you attack?" asked Twilight quietly. "What happened to an hour?"

"Oh, that was for Earth. No way is Equestria going to give up, so I'm giving my mares a chance to strut their stuff. Sunset Shimmer says 'hello', by the way."

"How did you do this?" I asked. "It's impossible to bring back the dead. Nopony's magic is that strong."

"Maybe not any mortal, but I am more than that." said Sombra. "I'm becoming a god, and Shimmer and Alex are my angels. Or demons, whichever you prefer. They have free range over Equestria. I even told Alex she could feed when she pleased. Hope you don't have any loved ones in the Crystal Empire, because that's her first stop."

"You are insane." said Scootaloo. "We're gonna take you down."

"Shut it, Scoots." said RD. "Leave it alone."

"No. He thinks he can just walk in here and intimidate us, that he can just step all over everything we've ever loved and not hear a word about it, but he's wrong. I don't know about Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but I'm ready for him to hear us. I'm ready to make some noise."

"Scootaloo, be quiet." she said. "This is worse than you could ever imagine."

"Do ya even understand what just happened?" asked Aj. "That was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. We don't stand a chance."

"Why are you talking like they're the enemy? All we have to do is break the spell, then boom! We've got three extremely powerful allies."

"That would be good logic, if it weren't for the fact that the spell that you're trying to break is unbreakable." said Sombra. "There is no counterspell. The only way to release them is to kill the caster, and I am immortal. So take this opportunity to get your eulogies ready. You have no way of winning. I have an undefeatable army. What have you got?"

"At the risk of sounding cheesy, I'll tell you what we've got." I said. "You see all the ponies here in this room? We have me, the impossible human, two very strong mares who would kill anyone who dares lay a finger on their loved ones, my twins, who have Celestial, Lunar, and Princess Celestia's Instinct Spell hard wired into their brains, a couple of the fastest and strongest lesbians I know, a unicorn who could shoot a kernel of corn out of a chicken's beak from 20 meters, three bonafide psychopath Earth ponies, the Royal Family of Equestria, and the mother of your slave who you torture on a daily basis. As if that wasn't bad enough, you've managed to personally piss each and every one of them off."

"I don't see how that's cheesy." said Sombra.

"You've made us mad, oh that goes without saying, but you also made a few terrible mistakes. For one, you left us alive. You gave us hope. Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. You gave us the antidote to your poison, the combination to your safe, the keys to our handcuffs."

"That's one 'mistake'. You promised me several."

"Your next mistake is that you trapped us. Never should've done that. When I get trapped, I get pressured. When I get pressured, I think. When I think, I get creative. When I get creative, I get dangerous. You backed me against a wall, which makes me the most lethal I can be. But, shockingly, that's not your biggest mistake. Your biggest mistake is that you underestimate us. You underestimate the strength of our friendship."

"Here we go again." said Sombra, rolling his eyes.

"My friends came through for me last time."

"This is different. Now, it's personal."

"Oh, of course." I said angrily. "_Now_ it's personal. What was it when you kidnapped my wife and tortured my kids? Business? King Sombra, considering you are my enemy, I have been extremely nice to you. Now, I'm taking off the gloves. I was going to let you live, I really was, but you've pushed me too far. I will kill you. I will kill you and anyone who has ever associated with you. You will be nothing more than a whisper of a rumor. I have one last thing to say to you before I transform my words to reality: You. Will. Die!"

"Alexandria." said Twilight. Alexandria closed her eyes, forcing her horn to stop the projection. I jumped down and reached into my backpack. I dug around the magically expanded inside and pulled out two orange shortswords. Celestial. I tossed one to Spencer and strapped the other to my hip. I dove back into the bag, removed the two Lunars and handed one to Marceline.

"I thought I told you to drop your weapons." I said angrily. "Nopony here is a changeling."

"Sombra said…" began Fluttershy.

"Sombra's full of shit!" I shouted. "He was trying to scare us. Sombra chose his words very carefully, just like always. Notice he said that a number of us are working with him."

"So?"

"If he was trying to give us any legitimate information, he would've told us exactly how many. He said that a number of us are changelings. Last time I checked, zero is a number."

"That silver-tongued son of a bitch." said Sarah.

"He was trying to play us against each other." said Twilight.

"Exactly." I said. "And we're not going to let him. Let's get to work."

"What do we do?" asked Spencer.

"Rob, I need you to sober up and teach Sarah to defend herself. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle will help you." I commanded.

"How long do I have?" he asked, words finally slurring. This bastard sure could hold his liquor.

"I need her up and fighting by yesterday." I said. "Applebloom. What's your special talent?"

"Leadership." answered Applebloom, showing off her Cutie Mark, a shield with a lion's head plastered across it.

"Then lead. Go out and talk to the army, try to calm them down and explain to them what they just saw." I said. "Conjure and Twily, I need you to temporarily erase Alexandria's memory. Temporarily. Sombra might be looking through her eyes and memories, something we simply can't have. I don't know if it's possible, but try to put her memories in a jar or something so she can use them later."

"That gives me an idea." said Isaiah. "Not too useful now, but if I can pull it off, it'll come in handy later."

"Celestia and Luna." I said. They gave me a look of scathing rage, most likely because I didn't add the obligatory "Princess". "Oh, I don't have time for your hubris. I need you to find a way to kill the changelings. I don't care what you have to do, just do it."

"If we had more time, we'd have you punished for such disrespect." said Celestia.

"And I can't wait. I need Aj, Rarity and… Marceline to go down and assess the damage. Get a death toll. I know it's morbid, but you have to do it." I said, stroking my daughter's head. "Marcy, this is important. If you encounter any of the enemy, run away. You can't take them yet. Run away. Promise me that you'll run."

"I promise." she said.

"That being said, Applejack: I need you to promise that you'll make her run. Don't tell her I said this, but my daughter can be a bit hard-headed. And stupid, if she's trying to prove someone wrong."

"I'm right here, Dad." said Marceline.

"Ah promise on mah life that Ah'll get her out if sumthin goes bad." said Applejack, removing her hat and pressing it against her chest.

"Thank you. Dash, Pinkie, Storm, head to Ponyville. Make sure everypony is safe and if you run into any trouble, get out. That goes for you especially, RD. Don't be stupid." I said. "Flutters, Spencer, you're with me. I have a hunch that I know where Sombra is going to attack."


	6. The Unicorn Prisoner

I lied. I didn't have a hunch. I knew _exactly_ where he was going next. I was just hoping I was wrong. If I knew Sombra, which I unfortunately did, he would be going after a certain someone, someone I hated for most of my teenage life. Sombra was a clever hick, and he knew that, despite all of our disagreements, I would always come back to save the thing that hated me most, the soulless she-beast, the bane of my early existence.

"Are you sure he'll be here?" asked Spencer as we tripped through the Rift in front of the large house on the corner.

"I'm positive. As much mutual distaste that we have for each other, Sombra knows that I'll always help her." I answered, closing the Rift behind Fluttershy.

"You could be wrong. We both hate this bitch." said my ever-so-tender wife.

"No, you hate her. I have a bit of a undying resentment for her. She's like a shark surrounded by piranhas, tied to a lion, which is strapped to a bear, who mauled my father. I don't have hate for her, just extreme amounts of terror and bitterness." I answered. "I could never hate her, no matter what evil, cruel, heinous bullshit she's done to me in my life." I was talking, of course, about my mother.

"What's the plan?" asked Spencer.

"You guys both know how to sense the energy of a Rift opening, right?" I asked. They all nodded. "Okay. I'm going to go in alone. When you feel the Rift energy, rush in as fast as you can."

"Are you sure? This is sure to be dangerous." said Fluttershy.

"I'll be fine. Just wait here for my signal." I said. I pushed open the door and walked into the foyer, which was immaculately neat. Something was wrong. Which means I was right. Which was wrong. I rushed through the hall and into the living room, where Sunset Shimmer was waiting for me. At her feet was my mom, bound in ropes, with blood dripping from her lower lip. Around Shimmer's wrists were coils of black chains, which she slowly began to unravel to the floor.

"Sunset Shimmer." I said, drawing my sword. At that moment, I realised how dumb I was. I rushed in with no armor and I left my backpack, which contained anything I could ever use to save my life. Whoops.

"Chris?" whispered Mom. "You… came for me?"

"Always. You may treat me like shit, but I learned that you should love and tolerate people no matter what." I said. "Shimmer. What do you want?"

"I want to make a deal with you." she said, wrapping a chain against my mom's neck. "Hear me out?"

"Let her go. I really don't want to have to get Fluttershy in here, but I will."

"F-funny." she stuttered, She inhaled deeply then continued her sentence. "I want you to do me a favor."

"What do you want me to do that I'm probably not going to do?"

"Kill Alex, and I promise that your mother will live. Forever." she answered. She tightened the chain, choking her slightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said angrily. "Why would you want Alex dead?"

"I think she might be making a move on my man." she said. "And she'll probably rip me to pieces as soon as she gets the chance. If I'm going to die again, I'd rather not be consumed by a teenage dragon. What would that epitaph look like?"

"What was that bit about my mom living forever?"

"I can kill her now and push her back into her physical body, just like our soldiers. Immortality." she said. Without warning, she yanked the chain hard to the left, snapping my mother's neck and dropping her onto her face.

"You should _not_ have done that!" I said angrily.

"Calm down." she said. The chains rose into the air as if controlled by some outside force, then buried themselves into Mom's back. She rose to her feet with red light beaming out of her eyes. The light dimmed down, leaving her iris deep crimson. She let out a scream of pain, one that didn't end until Shimmer snapped her fingers.

"Chris? What happened?" asked Mom, standing stiff and at attention. "It burns, Chris. It burns very bad."

"What did you do to her!?" I asked, angrily choking back tears. "Fix her!"

"I thought I just did." said Shimmer. "She's breathing. A big improvement on a few seconds ago. You can keep her like this, so long as you kill Alex for me."

"Release her! Now!" I said angrily. "I'm not a violent man, but I will rip you apart!"

"Relax." said Shimmer calmly. "She'll be fine. They get used to the pain."

"I will not relax! I will kill you where you stand unless you fix her!" I said, stepping forward.

"I was hoping you'd help a gal out." said Shimmer, throwing her chain forward. I instinctively brought my right arm up to block it. The chain wrapped itself around my arm, squeezing it and numbing all feeling in the limb. My arm up to my elbow burst into black smoke which reformed at the end of Shimmer's chain, lengthening it by at least a foot.

"You knew I was right handed, didn't you?" I asked as my sword clattered to the floor.

"Try calling your woman now. I know that you're communicating with the Rifts. Can't do it with one arm, can you?" said Shimmer triumphantly.

"Common misconception, actually." I said, snapping my fingers on my remaining arm. A portal of silver-grey light opened behind me, whispering for me to step through. "Later."

I jumped backwards, tripping through the Rift and back into the Crystal Bunker, where Conjure, Twilight and Alexandria were sitting.

"Just popping in." I said, grabbing my backpack from the floor. I snapped my fingers again and opened another Rift in front of me.

"What are you doing?" asked Conjure. "And what happened to your arm?!"

"No time to explain. Don't touch the chain!" I shouted. I jumped through the new Rift, this time tripping out behind Shimmer. I waited and watched Shimmer send her chains through the first Rift. I ducked down and let the chain pass over my head and impale her through the stomach. The chain passed through easily, dropping her to her knees.

"Son of a bitch." she moaned. "I killed myself."

"No you didn't." I said, yanking the chain out. Something told me that I'd be fine. I threw the chain to the floor and stomped hard on it, shattering part of it. Smoke puffed out and swarmed around my stump, which then reformed into my arm. I pulled the other chain from Shimmer's other arm and made my way towards my mom.

"You know what I have to do, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. It was my time to go anyway." she said. "I was getting old anyway."

"Anything you want to say before I… you know."

"I'm going to miss you." she said. "I know I treated you like shit, and I was wrong for that. Ironically enough, you turned out to be more of a man than anyone I've ever met. Your father would be proud."

"Thanks Mom." I said. "See you around." I took the chain and plunged it into my mom's heart. Just as I did so, I heard the door fly open. Fluttershy and Spencer rushed into the house as my mom's eyes returned to it's normal hazel. She dropped to the floor, dead, when I reached into my backpack. I pulled out a set of handcuffs and tossed it to Fluttershy.

"Cuff her." I said quietly, lowering my mom's body. "We're taking her back to Twi."

"Okay, babe." said Fluttershy, slamming the cuffs onto Shimmer's wrists. "Hello, Sunset. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"G-g-get her away f-f-from me!" sputtered Shimmer.

"What?" I asked. I snapped my fingers and closed one of the Rifts, leaving the other one open for us.

"D-d-did I stutter?" asked Shimmer angrily. She was making this too easy.

"Y-yes, you d-d-did." mocked Spencer. "So you killed Grandma, eh? You know, that woman's goal in life was to make me and my sister as miserable as her. Doesn't mean she deserved to die the way she did."

"What took you so long?" I asked, picking Mom back up and putting her on the couch. I closed her eyes and muttered a quiet little "Rest in peace."

"Sunset put a bunch of spells on the door. It took us a few minutes to break it down." answered Fluttershy. She hefted Sunset Shimmer to her hooves roughly.

"Get your h-hands off of me!" shouted Shimmer. She inhaled deeply before continuing. "Any one else! Let the boy take me if you have to, just not her!"

"Why do you hate me so much?" asked Fluttershy. She seemed genuinely hurt and offended. Even when we were in the heat of a battle, she still found time to worry about people not liking her.

"R-really?!" asked Shimmer angrily. "You killed me! And gave me this stutter! Do you know how bad it is to use your words for most of your life to get what you want and then lose the ability to talk properly? It's awful!"

"I'm sorry." said Fluttershy softly. "I didn't mean to make you so upset."

"You stomped my head in over and over. It must've been 40 blows before you were satisfied."

"Oh, I wasn't satisfied." said Fluttershy. "After 40 stomps, there wasn't much left to stomp, so I called it quits. Did it hurt alot?"

"You crushed my skull repeatedly for 20 minutes. What the hell do you think?!"

"Listen, you two can hash this out later, but right now I have a madman to kill and more than one funeral to plan." I said grimly. I pushed Fluttershy, Spencer and our new prisoner through the Rift then followed them myself. We tripped out into the Bunker, right in front of Conjure, Twi, Alexandria, Robert, Pinkie, Storm, Sarah, RD and the Crusaders. They all seemed to be waiting for us. I dropped Shimmer's chains to the ground and kicked them into the corner.

"What happened?" asked Conjure.

"Where are the Princesses? And Marcy?" I asked, ignoring the question.

"Marceline, Aj and Rarity haven't gotten back yet." said Twilight. "Don't panic, I'm sure they're fine."

"I'm sure they are." I said sarcastically. "But where are your kids?"

"My uncle broke in and attacked. The girls have him in the other room and are finding a way to kill him now. No such luck." said Conjure. "What you got there? Sunset Shimmer, is it?"

"And you must be Prince Obvious, Lord of Stupid Goddamn Statements!" shouted Shimmer angrily.

"Did you remove Alexandria's memory?" I asked.

"Yes. We have them in a jar, like you said. We can put them back later." said Twilight. "She remembers all the major things, but no details, like where we are or what we're doing."

"Princess?" said Alexandria. "King Sombra is sending another message."

"Let it through." said Twilight. A beam of red burst from Alexandria's horn, projecting the image of Alex in front of her. Her mane was an absolute mess, she was sweating almost nervously, and she was covered in bite marks. She blushed as she tried to speak, and she burst into a fit of giggles. It took her about a minute to regain her composure.

"Lord Sombra isn't here right now, but he wishes me to tell you that your hour is up." she said dreamily.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Not that it's any of your business, I was out fighting today and Lord Sombra has… rewarded me." she giggled. "He's a biter, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh my God. You guys… had relations?"

"Don't tell Shimmer. I want her to catch us in the act!"

"I'm right here, whore!" said Shimmer angrily. I felt really bad for her. Being cheated on sucks.

"Oh." said Alex. "Well, since you already know, I'll skip right to the part where I gloat. Ha! It was amazing! On the day we met you told me you beat me to the punch, but not this time! Even if you get out of there and Lord Sombra rewards you, he'll be thinking of me! Not you, _me_!"

"When I get out of here." muttered Shimmer.

"Wait!" I said, just processing the facts. "Our hour is up?"

"Yup. Lord Sombra killed the leader of Japan and is picking his next target as we speak." said Alex. "Did your people get back to you yet? I sorta want to congratulate them."

"For what?"

"They actually put up a decent fight. The dark one managed to hit me a few times before I got to her."

"What did you do to Marceline?!" I asked furiously. "If you hurt my daughter…"

"Relax. She'll live. Probably. Anyway, I have to go. It's time to add 'The Conqueror' to a list of my titles, right behind 'The Great'."

"What about 'Alex the Concubine'?" asked Shimmer bitterly. "Or 'Alex the Whore'? Will that suffice?"

"Almost forgot about you. I'm sending someone to come and get you. When you get here, maybe we can find a way to share." said Alex. Her new black demon horns grew from her head. They glowed a dark red and her image faded. Just then, the door flung open. Rarity and Applejack dragged Marceline into the room. My daughter seemed to be unconscious, and Aj had a right hand pressed against Marcy's left ear, both of which were bleeding intensely, along with three deep wounds across Marceline's face.

"Ah'm sorry, Silver." said Applejack, raising Marceline onto the table. "Ah promised Ah'd protect her. Ah'm afraid Ah let mah anger get to me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, rushing over to check on her. I was wrong. Applejack wasn't covering Marceline's ear. She was covering where her ear _used_ to be. I reached into my magic backpack and grabbed a roll of bandages, which I tossed to Rarity.

"We were attacked by my daughter." said Rarity as she started to dress Marcy's wounds.

"Ah was gonna get her out, Ah swear, but then Alex started talkin about how she was gonna hurt Scoots and RD and, well, Ah got mad an went to fight. Don't be mad at her." said Applejack. "She saved mah life. Soon as Alex swiped at me with her scythe, she rushed it and blocked it. That's when she got bit."

"Alex bit her ear off?" asked Spencer. "I'm gonna have to start calling her Evander."

"Is now the time? Your sister might die!" I said angrily.

"No she won't. I made a bet with her, and she always wins." he said. "I bet her that we'd both make it. She's gonna make it, or she owes me fifty bucks."

"That doesn't make any sense." I said.

"Sure it does Dad." whispered Marceline quietly.

"You're up!" I cried. "Are you okay?"

"Check on Aj. She lost some fingers."

"What?" asked RD, grabbing Applejack's hand. Sure enough, her pinkie and ring fingers were gone on her right hand. "What happened?"

"She saved me." said Marceline as Rarity finished tying up the bandage. "I fell when we were running away. When Alex came to finish me off, Aj grabbed the scythe with her bare hands and bodyslammed her into the pavement!"

"Rarity, work on her hand please." I said. "Marcy, you did well, all things considered. And Aj, thank you for getting her out alive."

"Guys?" called Conjure quietly. "Someone's here." I turned around and saw a man with long, greasy blonde hair. His face was almost waxy and his eyes beamed out bright red. He wore a tattered orange jumpsuit and a sinister smile. His mouth was full of razor-sharp fangs and he spoke with a heavy Russian accent.

"Are you the Defenders of Harmony?" he asked.

"Ivan." said Robert. "I want everypony to stand back. This bastard's mine."


	7. War's Stand-Off

"Listen, I just vant to know if you are who I'm looking for." said Ivan. "Are you?"

"Ivan Azarov." said Robert, shrinking down to his human form. "I've waited for this day."

"Do I know you?" asked Ivan.

"No, I don't expect you to. Storm, bring me Thor." he commanded. Storm scurried off and delivered the hammer to her father. "My name's Robert."

"Vhat does that mean to me?"

"Like I said, I don't expect you to know me. I've only ever visited you anonymously. I'm Robert Thompson. Your son."

"Vhich von?"

"What?"

"I must've raped at least 30 vomen. Vell, realistically, it vas more like 40. Let's say 40. Out of those 40, 23 survived. I never vore protection, so it's safe to assume that at least some of them kept the baby, so vhich von?"

"Robert." he said angrily. "My mom was Alisa."

"Narrows it down to 7."

"Small woman. Dark hair. Blue eyes."

"Narrows it down to 3."

"You dumped whatever you didn't eat on her while she slept." said Robert angrily.

"2."

"She's the one who had you arrested and thrown in jail like the filth you are!" roared War. "She's the one who finally gave you what you deserve!"

"Oh, that whore." said Ivan, finally grasping it.

"Vhat did you just say to me?" said Robert, slipping into his accent. Uh-oh. That was never good.

"I vas just recalling how I should've killed that bitch vhen I had the chance." said Ivan.

"I am going to kill you in vays you could never even imagine!"

"Calm down." said Storm, stepping forward. War pushed her back, determined to do this alone. Ivan looked passed Robert and eyed Storm hungrily.

"I can tell based on the vay that you look at them that you have a special relationship with the black one and the pink one. I assume that von of them is your vife and the other is your daughter. If the black von is your vife, let me just say that I am impressed. She's a sexy von, I'll give you that. But the age doesn't seem to vork out, so I'm going to assume that it's the pink one."

"You're funny Ivan. It's almost as if you're _trying_ to make me mad, vhich is something you should never do." said War, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a flask and took a sip.

"I smell vodka." said Ivan. "Vant to share?"

"What the hell? You're gonna need it." said War, losing his accent as he calmed down. Perhaps "calm" is not the best words. More like "prepared". He tossed the flask to Ivan who quickly took a sip.

"Who first?" asked Ivan.

"What?" said War in confusion.

"Vhich von first? The pink von or the black von?"

"First for what?"

"Oh. I see, you've never done this before. If I ever take two victims who know each other, I find someone else related them and make them decide who vatches the other get raped. It's funny to see their reactions. So the question remains, vife or daughter? Who is first?"

"This is my wife and daughter we're talking about, and you're making jokes about raping them and making the other watch?" said War, eyes glowing red.

"Not jokes. It vas a serious question. Vith a little skill, I can do both at vonce."

"You should not have done that." I said, backing away slowly. "You just made War angry. Never, ever do that."

"War. Do your thing." said Conjure.

"Any last vords, Ivan?" asked War. His skin began to glow dark red as he stepped towards his father.

"Do you have any garlic? Or lemons? I'm quite hungry." said Ivan. When we looked at him confusedly, he elaborated. "Vhat? I'm a cannibal. Doesn't mean my food has to be bland."

"You've pissed me off." said War. He rushed forward and wung his hammer into the side of Ivan's head, knocking it off, spewing blood all over the floor. Ivan's decapitated body fell to the ground next to his head. His body grasped his head and put it back onto his neck, where it sewed itself back on.

"That vas von hell of a sving!" said Ivan, getting to his feet. "Shimmer, right? Got a veapon?"

"Not for you, asshole." said Shimmer bitterly. "I want nothing to do with you."

"I don't care. The only reason I'm here is because Sombra won't let me go do what I vant to do. He said he'll release me vhen you are all dead." said Ivan. He launched himself forward and bit War on the left shoulder. Robert smacked his dad in the side of the head with the butt of his hammer. He jumped to the right, slamming Ivan into the wall, snapping his spine.

"Answer me this, Dad: Do immortals feel pain?" asked War, ripping Ivan out of his shoulder. He grabbed him by the neck and threw him onto the ground.

"You tell me." answered Ivan. Everypony was confused, except for Conjure, who looked as if he was punched in the stomach.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked War, stomping Ivan in the chest.

"We're all immortal." said Conjure.

"Now is not the time for nonsense."

"No, I mean it. We can't die. Well, not from natural ways anyway. Haven't you noticed how we don't seem to age anymore? We look and feel like we're 18 everyday. I'm 41 and I still move like a teenager. We don't get sick, our wounds heal at an accelerated rate, and we don't age."

"Partly immortal." I muttered. "But how?"

"I have a theory." said Conjure. "This all started when we became a team. We were the nine most powerful beings in the universe, the Defenders of Harmony and the Spirits of the Elements of Harmony. The day we all became friends, the Elements died."

"What?" I asked.

"Don't pretend like you didn't notice. We all felt it, even if we didn't know what it was."

"Conjure, you must have lost your mind." said Twilight. "The Elements of Harmony can't die."

"Then how come nopony thought to use them during the last war?" he asked. When no one answered, he continued. "Because we all knew, somewhere deep in our minds, that we couldn't. The Elements of Harmony died and we took their energy."

"So we can never die?" I asked.

"I don't know about that. We can't die from natural things like disease. If it were just the Six, they would be like Sombra, able to survive anything except decapitation. If it were just the three of us humans, we wouldn't even be able to feel pain. Let's count ourselves lucky."

"Can you please shut up?!" asked War angrily. He turned around, leaving Ivan on the floor in pain. "I'm trying to enjoy killing the man who ruined my life, which is kinda hard if you guys won't stop talking!" Ivan jumped to his feet and rushed at Robert with his teeth bared. He moved like lightning, so fast that nopony had time to react. Almost nopony. Shimmer's chain darted from the corner and wrapped itself around Ivan's ankles. The chain rose to the ceiling, hoisting Ivan upside down.

"If you assholes are going to die, I'd rather it be to me." said Shimmer. "I binded his soul. This time, he'll die permanently."

"Thank you, Shimmer." said War, approaching his father. "Any last words?"

"Just that I'm proud, albeit a little shocked, that you followed in my footsteps." said Ivan. "You kill like a professional, Robert. If you vanted to, ve could have gone into business together. If any von had to do me in, I'm glad it vas some von as skilled as you, Robert."

"You said 'Robert'. Robert's been dead for quite a while now. You could say that he was dead before he was even alive." said War, gripping his hammer. "This isn't Robert. This is War!" He raised his hammer over his head as his body glowed deep, blood red. He slammed Thor downwards, smashing Ivan's legs into his midsection, squishing it grossly.

"I vill rip you apart!" shouted Ivan in pain. War raised it again and smashed it down again, sending his legs even deeper.

"Storm! Pinkie! Close your eyes!" shouted War enraged. They did as he instructed, leaving him free to smash his father again and again without fear of mentally scarring his family. He slammed again and again and again, each blow accompanied by a terribly disgusting squelch, until Ivan was nothing more but a puddle of blood, bone fragments and gore.

"Rob?" I asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Clean up on Aisle Four." he muttered. The red glow of his coat died down and he seemed calm, more so than usual. "You can open your eyes now."

"Damn, Dad." said Storm. "What did you do?"

"Oh that? I was just… doing dirty laundry so to speak." said Robert. "And watch your mouth. I won't tolerate you cursing at me like a goddamn sailor."

"I don't even want to think about the hypocrisy of that statement." said Conjure, snapping his fingers. Ivan's remains disappeared from the floor.

"That was extremely satisfying, but we should keep going." said War, dropping onto his butt. "I don't think anypony actually gave our fearless leader a sitrep. Get on it."

"I'm barely a leader." I said. "And I'm damn sure not fearless. But that's a good idea. Tell me what happened. Start with Applebloom."

"The army doesn't really believe it." said Bloom. "They still think ya'll are dead. It's best if ya'll don't ask them for help."

"I figured as much." I sighed. "Okay, how's Sarah doing?"

"I'm decent." said Sarah.

"I love you Sarah, but you're rubbish." said War. "She'll be able to defend herself a little, but she's no real help to us."

"So keep her here. RD, what did you find in Ponyville?"

"Everything's fine there. We ordered a full evacuation to the bunkers." answered Dash. She was referring to the secret chambers we put beneath key places in Ponyville, like the library and the schoolhouse.

"Excellent. Rarity, what do you got for me?"

"It was a disaster down there." said Rarity grimly. "It seems that half of the citizens evacuated when they saw the princesses. The other half are dead."

"Sombra killed half of my city in ten seconds?" said Twilight angrily. "That's well over a hundred thousand people."

"I'm sorry, Twi. We'll have a service later. Right now, we have to figure out our next move." I said. "We have to take down Sombra first. I have a plan."

"It'll never work." said Shimmer. "Nothing you have planned will work. You can't plan against this man."

"Sombra may be clever, but not enough to beat all 17 of us."

"I'm not talking about my fiance. I'm talking about Discord."

"What makes you think Discord is involved?" asked Dash.

"How do you think Sombra got the corpses? He sent Discord to get them and put souls back into them."

"How?" asked Storm. "You'd need a powerful unicorn who was already dead to bring so many souls back to the Physical Plane. I assume." Storm was a very strange filly, which is to be expected, given her parents.

"That's where I come in. Even with help from a Spirit, the binding would be very unstable. They'd fall apart without some equally unstable magic. Discord cancelled out the shakiness of the spell."

"Can't you bind the souls for us like you did to Ivan?" asked Marceline.

"It's not that easy, Holyfield. First off, I'd need to be in close proximity." said Shimmer. "Second, by the time I began the binding process, Sombra would've noticed and put a Quad Deadlock Seal on the spell. Even I couldn't break that. And who said I was helping you? You're still the enemy."

"This is your only chance to get back at Alex for stealing your man." said Spencer. Shimmer seemed to ponder it over, then she got to her hooves.

"You're smart. And kinda cute. If you were a few years older…" said Shimmer.

"Can you not hit on my son?" I asked. "I don't know if you noticed, but you're like sixty years old. Can somepony say Cougar?"

"I'm 43! And besides, I died when I was 19, so technically I'm 20 at oldest." said Sunset Shimmer. "But back to the matter at hand. I want Alex dead, you want Alex dead. Maybe we should work together."

"Yes, because you're trustworthy." said Twilight, rolling her eyes.

"Don't mistake my offer for friendship. I'm only working with you until the dragon is in the ground. Then, I'm gonna go make my fiance love me again."

"We have to move fast." I said. "We have ten minutes until the next world power is killed."

"No time to waste." said Shimmer. "Well, my frenemies? Care to uncuff me? I have work to do."


	8. The Sun and the Moon

We didn't release Shimmer. I trusted her about as far as I could throw a goddamn mountain. I sent her to work with the princesses, who were still trying to kill Conjure's Uncle Richard. I talked to him a few times while he was in captivity. He told me he was sorry, that he couldn't control himself. Stuff we already knew. I left the princesses with their new lab partner and sat down on the war table, racking my brain to think of something, anything for Christ's sake!

"Fluttershy, what do you think I should do?" I asked my wife.

"Why are you asking me? I don't know." she answered, ever-so-helpful.

"I think we should go get the UNE to safety." said Twilight.

"Remember what Sombra said. If he runs out of UNE, he'll start killing civilians." I answered.

"Not if we get them out as they're dying." said Conjure. "It'll take a lot of complex magic, but I can definitely do it."

"How?" I asked.

"You know how nopony can manipulate time?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's not entirely true. Nopony _except_ for the ones with talent like I can manipulate time." said Conjure.

"Bullshit." I said.

"I can't do it for very long, but I can pause time for long enough before the UNE ambassadors get killed, swap them out with a life-model clone, and get the real people to safety."

"Excellent!" I said. "What do you need?"

"Not much. Just a ride to the UNE and Twilight. I need another, equally complex spell to stabilize my own, and Twi is the only one who can do it."

"Alright. Anything we need before we go?" asked Twilight.

"Can you fix Marceline? Heal her ear and face?" I asked.

"No." said Marcy. "Leave them. It doesn't hurt anymore. My face wounds are already closed and I'd like for them to stay. As a reminder not to be so brash. And to listen to my father."

"You and your mom are very similar." I said, opening a Rift. "Stay here. We'll be back in no time."

"Let's go." said Twilight.

"I know what you're trying to do, and all I can say is 'stop'. You're being stupid and I need you to stop or we're all going to die." I said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight.

"You're hoping that two things happen, so much so that you're not thinking. You're hoping to get revenge on Sombra for the Empire, which is understandable but dumb. For those who seek revenge, remember to dig two graves."

"You want revenge too." pointed out Twilight.

"I want revenge, sure, but that's not _why_ I fight. I fight to protect the people I love, not over a grudge. I've known you for long enough to know that when you get angry, you make mistakes. Don't be angry."

"Okay Mr. Omnipotence, what's the second thing that I'm hoping for? Since you know me better than I know myself?"

"Do I even need to say it? We both know who we might face out there."

'We have about 60 seconds before the next UNE representative." said Conjure. "We should go."

"Right. Twilight, all I'm saying is be careful." I said. "I don't want anypony to get hurt."

"Whatever, Dad." said Twilight sarcastically. "Let's go already." I stepped into the Rift and stumbled through the other side. I fell through into a huge, round room with hundreds of curved, wooden desks. The entire room was deserted, except for the desk labeled "USA", which was occupied by Sombra, with his hooves kicked up and his hands behind his head.

"Took you long enough." he growled. "I ran out of ambassadors ages ago."

"Always one step ahead." I muttered. I tried to close the Rifts before my friends came through, but I was too late. They tripped through just as I closed it, trapping the three of us in a room with the most dangerous thing in the universe.

"Son of a bitch." said Conjure. He snapped his fingers and a long, thin katana appeared in each hand. Twilight snapped as well, summoning a thin rapier into her hand. I simply pulled Celestial off of my hip, ready to take on the King of Shadows.

"You killed all of the ambassadors already?" I asked angrily. "Why?"

"Not just the ambassadors. Every single leader or person of political importance in the human world. Earth is in complete anarchy." said Sombra. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Nothing we can do?" asked Twilight. "Let's see about that. Put em up, Sombra."

"You want to fight me? I have no intention of fighting you." said Sombra. He snapped his fingers, sending a loud crack through the air. "They do."

Three caskets melted out of the ground, one blue, one pink, one yellow. The lids of each popped off and out stepped 3 alicorns.

"Hello, Twilight." said Celestia quietly. Her usually magenta eyes were now a deep scarlet and she twitched sporadically at random times. "It's been so long since I've seen you."

"Princess Celestia?" said Twilight, stepping backwards. "How?"

"We've only been able to hear your voice, as you've only been able to hear yours." said Luna, eyes also dark red.

"I haven't even had that luxury." said Cadence. "It's great to see you, although I wish our reunion was under different circumstances."

"What do you mean?" asked Conjure.

"We're sorry. So, so sorry." said Celestia stepping forward slowly. "We have no control over our bodies. We are going to attack you until you are dead. We cannot die. Run, before he removes our minds."

"Out!" I exclaimed, gripping the empty air. Luna rushed forward, faster than my eyes could process and pressed her palm against my chest. I felt a wave of nausea pass over me and I dropped to my butt.

"I'm so sorry, Silver Rift." she said, jumping back next to her sister. "I've blocked your powers. You're stuck here. I wish I could help you, but there's nothing we can do."

"Princesses, how are you here?" asked Twilight.

"I'll leave this explanation to you, Celestia." said Sombra, rising to his hooves. "I have to return to my allies. Alex must be getting restless. I wonder how she's doing." He snapped his fingers and disappeared into thin air.

"Sombra has stolen our souls from your mind and shoved them back into our bodies." said Celestia. "Part of the reincarnation spell is complete control over the dead. We can't do anything without his order. If he wanted to, he could make us completely mindless."

"The Zombie Horde." said Cadence, laughing slightly. "Just when I thought I was rid of this world."

"If you guys are back, then does that mean…?" began Twilight.

"No. Shining Armor isn't back. There wasn't a body for Sombra to take." she said sadly. "I'm sorta glad. I can't imagine the pain of seeing him again."

"Just like I'm feeling right now."

"Hey. Don't be sad." said Cadence. She began to stomp her hooves lightly. "Sunshine, sunshine…"

"Lady bugs awake…" added Twilight, twirling around and covering her eyes.

"Stomp your hooves and do a little- AH!" Cadence fell to the ground in agony. She floated back to her hooves, the white of her eyes now black.

"She's had her mind taken." said Luna. "It's only a matter of time before we're next."

"If he allows us to stay, it's simply to throw you off." added Celestia. "I beg of you not to let that happen." Cadence ran forward with her horn glowing. She grabbed Twilight ny the neck and hoisted her up, choking her slowly. Conjure swung one of his katanas at Cadence's wrist, slicing off her hand and spewing blood on Twi's face. He kicked her back, dropping the Princess of Love to the ground.

"Thanks, Conjure." said Twilight, massaging her neck.

"How long will I be unable to use the Rifts?" I asked.

"Too long." answered Luna. "We'll kill you long before your powers return."

"I'm going to attack." said Celestia. She leapt forward with yellow aura glowing around her fists. She punched at Twilight, who kicked towards the right, sending Celestia flying.

"Sorry Princess." said Twilight. Cadence rose back to her hooves and grabbed her severed hand. She pressed it against her stump, where it sewed itself back on.

"We are no longer princesses." said Luna throwing herself forward. "Don't treat us like royalty anymore, Twilight. We are no longer the friends you remember. We are the enemy."

"Yes. I understand." said Twilight. "How do we defeat you?"

"There's one way. What you have to do is-" began Luna. Her head whipped backwards and snapped back to attention, her sclera having turned black, just like Cadence.

"She's gone." said Celestia softly. "I can feel it happening to me. I have seconds. I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you, Twilight. I've watched you grow into a fantastic princess. I couldn't have wished for a better successor."

"You aren't forgotten." said Twilight. "You'll never be forgotten. I named my children after you and your sister. Celestia and Luna. Their middle names are both Cadenza. Tell them both that I will never, ever forget any of you."

"I'm honored. It's been over 20 years. Care to give me one last friendship report?" said Celestia., eyes darkening. "What have you learned?"

"Dear Princess Celestia." said Twilight, slashing Luna in the chest. "Sometimes, your friends will seem like they're not your friends anymore. Throughout my years, I learned that you have to push past this and work with everything you've got, fight to your dying breath, trying to mend your friendship." Celestia blasted at Twilight with a jet of yellow light. Twi ducked it and sliced Celestia's right leg off, just above the knee.

"And sometimes, you can't do it. Sometimes, it's just too late. Sometimes, your friends become dead to you. That's when you mourn. It hurts, more than you can ever imagine, and there's nothing you can do to stop the pain. Some people try to drown it in alcohol or other things of that nature. Some people smother their sorrows with sweets. Some people just give up on the world, like Cadence. Like I did."

"What?" asked Conjure, stabbing Cadence through the chest with both swords.

"I gave up on life. I was going to follow in the hoofsteps of my sister-in-law." explained Twilight, cutting off Celestia's same leg again. "But then, I realised something. I realised that even when it seems hopeless, there's one thing that can get you through anything, through the toughest situations, the worst periods of your life can all be overcome by one thing. The only thing, I find, that's stronger than friendship: Love. Love is an intense, intricate, unexplainable, baffling thing that fills you with a burning feeling of confusion. Sometimes love makes you question your judgement. Sometimes love makes you question love itself. I never thought I'd end up with my husband, but look at us now."

"Nearly twenty years of happy marriage." said Conjure, burying his sword in Luna's neck.

"Love works in mysterious ways. It may seem like it's not there, it may seem like there's nopony for you to love, but when you find that person, nothing in Heaven or Earth can stop you. So my message is this: Love somepony. If you already have somepony you love, let them know. It may save your life one day." said Twilight. She swung quickly at the necks of the princesses, removing their heads and spewing blood on the floor. "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Thanks for the help, Chris." said Conjure sarcastically.

"I'm sorry. I just… froze." I said. "Some leader I am."

"You're still tired. You haven't slept since we got kidnapped." said Twilight. "Don't blame yourself." Celestia rose to her feet, leaving her head on the ground. She shot a blast at my chest while I was distracted. Time seemed to slow down as the jet of yellow energy flew towards me. Before it hit me, a rip of silver energy appeared before me. A red-headed human girl in a skin-tight black suit jumped out, blocking the shot with her chest. Sarah dropped to the ground in pain as Celestia, Luna and Cadence picked up their fallen limbs and heads and walked back into their respective caskets, which melted back into the ground

"Sarah!" I shouted, rushing forward. "No!"

"I came to help." she said weakly.

"No! What were you thinking?"

"I had to try. I was falling behind Fluttershy."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Twilight! Heal her!"

"I can't! It's decaying her on an atomic level." said Twilight, horn glowing. "I can't do anything without causing an atomic explosion."

"I don't care! Do it!"

"Chris." whispered Sarah. "Let go."

"No! Fix her! Now!" I roared.

"Let me go, Chris. I don't have anything to live for here."

"What about me? Your friends?"

"The only thing left on Earth is you, and you're taken. Maybe I'll have better luck in Heaven."

"You're not going to die!" I shouted.

"Chris. We can't heal her without causing an explosion that will destroy most of the Earth. She's going to die."

"No she won't!"

"Actually, she won't, not if she accept my help." said a maniacal voice. I felt a claw grasp my shoulder. I knew who it was without even looking.

"Get the hell out of here, Discord!" I shouted. "I'm in no mood!"

"I'm just trying to help." he said. "I can save her."

"How? Do it!" I shouted. He slithered over to Sarah and lifted her onto his shoulder.

"I can take her back to my realm and heal her with the natural Chaos Magic that's in the air."

"What's the catch?"

"She can't come back. Only I can move between my dimension and yours."

"What about the clones of my kids that you brought?" I asked. "You could bring them."

"That was different. They were children of the Rift, and were a little more flexible. Sasha here is just a normal human."

"Sarah!"

"Discord?" whispered Sarah. "You have clones? Of every one?"

"Except for the former Elements of Harmony. They can't be copied."

"But there's a copy of Chris?"

"Yes." he answered.

"Take me." she said. "Please, take me."

"What?" I said. "You can't really trust him."

"It's my only chance. I love you Chris, and you don't feel the same. Do you have any idea how much that hurts? Now I have a chance, albeit a small one, to have you. I'm going to take it." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"She'll survive? Promise me she'll be okay." I said.

"I give you my word. She'll be fine." he said.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because nopony deserves to lose the one they love." He popped into golden light and disappeared from view.

"Let's go." I said angrily. "We're too late anyway. Let's just get out of here."

"Chris, it's okay." said Conjure.

"No, it's not okay. Don't tell me it's going to be okay. Nothing is going to be okay! Even if we kill Sombra, nothing will be the same! Earth and Equestria are in shambles and they may never return to normal! Nothing is going to be okay!"

"Let's prove you wrong." said Twilight. I looked at her angrily then stepped through the Rift. The Bunker was empty, except for Spencer and Marceline.

"What's up?" asked Marceline. "How'd Sarah do?"

"Shut up. Where's everypony else?" I asked.

"In the armory with Shimmer. She says she has a plan." said Spencer. When Twilight and Conjure fell out, I closed the Rift and walked into the armory, where everypony (except for Celestia and Luna) were waiting for us.

"Where's Red?" asked Fluttershy.

"Shimmer, you better not disappoint me. I'm not feeling very forgiving." I said, ignoring the question.

"Well, my idea is to fight fire with fire." said Shimmer.

"What do you mean?" asked Spencer.

"Come here." Spencer walked and stood in front of Shimmer, his hand loosely wrapped around the hilt of his Celestial. Shimmer grabbed his sword quickly, so fast that Spencer couldn't react. She brought the blade to his throat and slit his throat, dropping him to the floor.

"No!" shouted Fluttershy. She lunged at Shimmer and grabbed her by the mane. She slammed Shimmer onto the ground, brought her hoof up and slammed it onto her skull. She raised her hoof and stomped again, this time cracking Shimmer's head, sending green blood all over the floor.

"I got you." said War. His eyes and skin began to glow green, as did Spencer's. Spencer's wound slowly closed and he jolted up, completely healed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Stop!" said Shimmer as Fluttershy stomped her in the head over and over again. "P-please!"

"No! You crossed the line, Shimmer!" shouted Fluttershy angrily.

"H-h-have mercy!"

"You should've thought of that before you hurt my son!"

"I w-was just trying to m-make him immortal!"

"Maybe you should ask before you do something so brash." said Spencer massaging his neck. "You can stop now, Mom."

"35, 36, 37…" counted Fluttershy, stomping with each number.

"Fluttershy, she's had enough!" said Pinkie.

"Deja vu." said Commandoshy. "Why does this feel so familiar?"

"Because this is h-h-how you killed me l-l-last time!" stuttered Shimmer.

"Can you give me a hand, War?" said Fluttershy. War pointed a finger at my wife, who's eyes and skin began to glow red.

"P-p-p-p-please!" begged Shimmer, trying to crawl away. "D-d-d-d-don't kill me!"

"Bye." Flutters brought her hoof down hard, splattering Shimmer's head and sending neon green blood all over the floor. The rest of Sunset's body burst into green flames, revealing a black, insectoid body.

"She was a changeling?" I asked.

"She had to have been. This was pretty much the result last time. No way could this be repaired." said Fluttershy, red dying down. "What do we do now?"

"You need to clean all that blood off of yourself."

"We've figured it out." said Luna, rushing in from the other room. "We know how to kill them!"

"It was quite simple, honestly." said Celestia, following close behind. "What we have to do is…"

"No!" shouted Conjure. "Don't tell us. I've noticed something."

"What?" I asked.

"Sombra's watching us. He knows exactly where we're headed next. He's been hacking into Alexandria's senses, not her memories. But I have a way around it."

"What do you got for me?"

"Remember earlier when I said I had an idea that wouldn't be useful until later? Well, it's later." he said. "This plan will be perfect, because nopony will know what it is!"

"Oh boy." I said, shaking my head. "Robert, I hope you still have that vodka. I'm gonna need a drink after hearing this one."


	9. The Mystery Plan

I had no idea what I was doing. I don't mean that I didn't have a plan, or I was winging it. I'm sure there was a plan, and I'm pretty sure I had something to do with it. I just didn't know what it was. All I knew is that I had to follow War, my squad leader.

"Open a Rift to the Impaler." he directed. I did as he told without questioning it. This was the definition of blind trust. My squad consisted of War, who was the current leader, Pinkie and Storm. We had our basic weapons and Chameleon Armor, my Celestial and Lunar, War's Thor and shotgun, Pinkie's assault rifle and knife and Storm's own hammer, slightly shorter than her father's and with a rounded head. She called it Loki.

"Can you at least tell us why we don't know what we're doing?" I asked.

"This is something called Selective Amnesia." he explained. "Only squad leaders know what's going on."

"Okay. What do we do when we get there?"

"I don't know. I'm not squad leader any more." he answered.

"That's me!" said Pinkie. "I get it now! Okey-dokey-lokey then! Everypony through the Rift." I had no clue what was going on, so I just did as I was told. I tripped through the Rift and onto the busy street of my home town, right at the New Heaven's Impaler. We still had no clue what the actual building was called and we couldn't be bothered to figure out.

"What now?" asked Storm.

"We have positions to be in. Storm, you need to stay around the base of the building, War needs to be three blocks down, Silver should be at the topmost floor on the balcony and I'll have to be five blocks north, two blocks west. We meet back in ten minutes then discuss what we've found. It's impera-. Imperro-. It's very important that we're not caught."

"Okay." said Storm. "What exactly are we supposed to be doing? Scouting?"

"Oh, I almost forgot." said Pinkie, reaching into her mane. She pulled out four small metal boxes and passed one to each of us. The box was about the size of a jewelry box and it had a single green button on top. "Put these at your location and press the button."

"Good luck." I said, entering the empty building. I had my sword and gun on my hip disguised to appear completely invisible to anyone but me. I walked through the lobby and past the abandoned receptionist's desk. I approached the elevator, pressed the "up" button and stepped in. The elevator rose up floor after floor, all the way up to floor 100. The doors opened and I stepped out into the empty hallway.

"Is everyone on break?" I asked myself. "Either that or they're waiting for me. Probably the latter but a guy can dream." It was eerily quiet and empty as I walked down the straight, empty hallway and opened the door to the observation deck. I got to the edge and dropped the box onto the floor. As I bent over to press the button, I felt a quick buzz in my head. Then, I remembered the plan.

"Oh!" I said to myself. "Brilliant! This plan is genius." I pressed the button on the Stasis Charge then leaned over the railing. I scanned through the empty street and my eyes eventually fell on the maroon-streaked devil herself.

"Time to go." I muttered. I jumped off the balcony and flapped my wings. I flew down to the ground quickly and landed in front of my squad. They looked around confusedly, looking for the new squad leader.

"Eat the gum!" I said. "The gum that Twilight gave us! Chew it, now!" I pulled a stick of gum out of my pocket and popped it in my mouth. My friends did the same and slowly faded from view. Invisibility Spearmint. I looked down at my nothingness, a little weirded out by my sudden lack of body.

"We have to follow Alex. She's going to lead us to Sombra."

"Where is she?" asked Storm.

"Down the street. She's the only one out here, so it'll be hard to miss her." I said. "I'm moving now. Try to let me know if you're still there." I walked down the street unseen and, for the most part, unheard. Every now and again, we'd whistle to signal that we're nearby. Like I said, it wasn't exactly hard to find Alex. We were only walking for about two minutes when we nearly bumped into her. We followed behind her for a block or two, watching her swing her black bladed scythe around, like some weird broadway musician with a walking stick. She turned around the corner and bumped into a man carrying a small girl, knocking them both to the ground. The girl looked about seven years old. I spread my arms out, blocking my friends from continuing. I could almost feel their disapproval, but I couldn't let us get caught. No matter what, Alex couldn't find us.

"You're out past curfew." said Alex. The look of terror on the guys face was like nothing I've ever seen. He scuttled backwards on the floor, covering the girl's eyes and pressing her head against his chest.

"I'm sorry!" he said. "Please, I live just a block down! Please just let me get home!"

"When Lord Sombra says stay home, you stay home." she said, pressing her scythe against the man's throat.

"Don't!" I whispered. "Robert, you have to let this one go!"

"But-!" started War.

"No!"

"Please! I just needed to get my daughter some medicine! She's very sick!" he pleaded.

"No exceptions. Besides, I'm hungry. I haven't had lunch today." said Alex. "Don't run. You'll die tired."

"Get out of here, Alicia!" he shouted, dropping his daughter to the ground. "Run!"

"Daddy!" she cried, running off.

"What did I just say?" asked Alex. She raised her scythe and sliced down into the man's chest, causing him to scream in sheer agony. She stepped over his unmoving body and walked slowly towards Alicia. Alicia ran around the corner, disappearing from our view. Alex flapped her wings and flew after her. We heard a high-pitched scream from the distance and the sound of a blade slicing through the air.

"Chris!" growled War. "How could we let that happen?!"

"I know, it's awful. How do you think I feel?" I said. "I'm the one who has to make these choices. It feels awful having to choose who lives and who dies."

"Then don't choose! Just save them!"

"I have to make sacrifices for the greater good." I said. "Now shut it! She's coming back!"

"Yummy!" she squealed, walking back into view. Her mouth was dripping with blood and she was holding three small fingers in her left hand. "Now, what to do about Daddy Dearest here?"

"This is awful." whispered Storm. "She was so young. I'm sorry Alicia. I'll help you later."

"What are you talking about?" asked Pinkie.

"Shh!"

"Let's send you to base." she said. Her horns curved out of her head and shot two thin streams of red onto the dad causing him to disappear into black smoke. She popped a finger into her mouth and chewed slowly, the sick sound of cracking bones chilling my spine.

"Mmmm! The fingers are always the best part! That or the ears." she said, looking dead at me. She turned around and began to walk up the street.

"Does she know?" asked Pinkie.

"I'm not sure." I whispered. "Let's keep following." Turns out that there was nowhere for us to follow her to. When she got to the corner, her horns shot two beams of black light onto the floor. Smoke began to billow out of the concrete and it shaped itself, forming into King Sombra, tall and arrogant.

"Why did you call me here?" he asked. Without answering, Alex pointed her left hand at us. She clenched her right hand into a fist and brought it to her chest. I felt my body clench up and be dragged slowly towards her. I struggled pointlessly to escape her grasp, knocking my gum out of my mouth in the process. My body re-materialized a foot or two away from Alex, as did War, Pinkie and Storm.

"I've found some of them, master." said Alex. "And if we search through their minds, we can find the rest."

"Excellent!" growled Sombra, stroking Alex's head. "You've done well."

"Thank you, my lord. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"I want you to go get Shimmer. She's still imprisoned and Ivan seems to have been defeated.

"Don't bother going after Sunset Shimmer." I said. "She's dead."

"I understand this. Who do you think brought her back to life?" he said.

"I meant-"

"I know what you meant. That was my attempt at a joke."

"I thought it was funny." said Alex.

"And that's why you're my favorite servant." he growled, patting her head again. She nearly purred, like some sort of sadistic, murderous cat. "For now, stick with me, Alex. We need to figure out where the rest of them all. That means that these four live. For now."

"Shall I teleport us back to base?" asked Alex, popping another finger in her mouth. Sombra nodded and her horns began to glow red. A faint haze surrounded and…

Pop!

We appeared in a room the size of a warehouse. There were swords and guns on the wall and a huge, circular war table in the center. Propped against the corner were stuffed training dummies and the back wall was a huge firing range with hanging targets.

"Using our old base, Sombra?" I asked. "Why?"

"Do not speak to my master unless he speaks to you first." said Alex. She swiped her hand to the right, pushing us against the wall where heavy black chains fell from the ceiling and rose from the floor. She shackled our hands and ankles, completely hindering our movement. I felt a slight buzzing in my head and I forgot what to do next.

"Did you really think these Stasis Charges would work?" asked Sombra, holding up the four metal boxes Pinkie gave out.

"These what?" I asked stupidly.

"The Stasis Charges! Don't play dumb with me!" he growled angrily. "I don't think it very much matters, though. Just tell me where the rest of you are."

"I… don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"What do you mean you don't know?" asked Alex. "How can you not know?"

"I just don't know. Or rather, I can't remember."

"Part of the spell." said War. "Only some of us know what to do."

"What?" asked Sombra.

"Three squads. Each squad has a leader who knows parts of the plan, namely their jobs and who to call for backup. At random intervals, the knowledge is erased from the squad leader's head and put into someone else's. Out of all three squads, only one person knows the entire plan."

"You're going to help me find them." said Sombra.

"Oh, it's me. I know where everyone is."

"I don't think so!" shouted Alex, pointing her outstretched palm at the space behind Sombra. She swiped her hand towards our wall and there was a soft thud, followed by a cough, a dropped wad of gum, and the appearance of my wife. More chains materialized to bind Fluttershy, who thrashed around, trying to break free.

"You just couldn't stay away." I said, shaking my head.

"Never could." she said.

"Where are the rest of you?" asked Alex. "Lord Sombra, can I just kill them? I don't think they're going to tell us."

"Most likely not." growled Sombra. "Answer me this, War: Since you are the only one who knows, what happens if you were to die?"

"The plan will probably be lost forever. I can't be sure. I've never tried." answered War.

"Let's find out. Alex: End him. Don't fail me this time."

"I won't let you down." said Alex, grabbing a knife off of the wall. She dragged her hand towards her chest and War was pulled off of the wall, chains melting through him. He floated over to Alex, stopping in front of her, still unable to move.

"War, you better have a plan." I said, thrashing. Pinkie and Storm were quietly crying and squirming around in their shackles.

"This is the plan. I'm going to die here." he said. "Do what you will, Alex."

"With pleasure, General." she said, placing her blade against War's neck.

"Storm, close your eyes." sobbed Pinkie, clenching her eyes shut. "Don't watch, baby, just look away."

"No." said War. "Storm, I want your eyes to be the last things I see. Your pretty, pink eyes."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Her eyes are green."

"Only sometimes."

"You know?" gasped Storm.

"Any last words?" asked Alex. "Final requests?"

"Yeah. One last drink." said War. Alex plunged her knife into War's neck, yanked it out, and stuck it in again, this time dropping him to the ground.

"Tough."

"War!" shouted Pinkie. She thrashed around in her chains. "No!"

"You can't die here, you old bastard. If anypony's gonna kill you, it's gonna be me!" said Fluttershy. War's skin began to glow a faint green and he rose slowly off the ground. Alex stooped down, swiped his shotgun off of his hip and placed the barrel against his head. My world stopped and was ripped in half as she pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

War's body fell onto the ground with a large hole in the side, leaking blood and bits brain onto the floor. I leaned forward and puked the limited contents of my stomach in horror. I turned to check on Pinkie and Storm and I was met with a terrifying sight.

"You… killed my dad." said Storm, her blue and black mane fading and straightening.

"You made us watch as he died." said Pinkie, her mane undergoing a similar process. Then, they started laughing. Hysterically laughing.

"Hahaha! You… you killed him!" laughed Storm.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked. "He's dead!"

"Yeah, we know!" giggled Pinkie.

"And you're not mad?" asked Fluttershy. "I didn't care for him too much and even I'm pissed."

"We're not mad." said Storm.

"Not mad?" asked Alex. "Not the reaction I was hoping for."

"Nope. Not mad. Pissed!" bellowed Pinkie, yanking her arms down. The chains broke away from the wall, dangling around her wrists. She already had her right leg free by the time Storm freed her hands. A few seconds later, they were helping me and Fluttershy out. When we were free, I asked them the big question.

"Sombra or Alex?" I said.

"Sombra." they answered together.

"Perfect." said Fluttershy. Our enemies had made the mistake of leaving us with our weapons. I pulled Celestial off of my hip and rushed up to Alex, who was nonchalantly swinging her knife. I raised my blade up and sliced downward, Alex blocking it easily.

"Stay out of this, Fluttershy." I said enraged. "She's mine."

"If Lord Sombra wasn't so powerful, I'd almost be worried." said Alex. She swung at my chest, cutting me shallowly. "Those two are clearly insane."

"No." said Pinkie, slicing at Sombra's throat. "We just know the secret of survival."

"Smile." added Storm as she slammed Loki into Sombra's left arm. "Smile even when your heart breaks in two."

"Words to live by." I said, ignoring the knife that Alex just shoved into my arm.

"How come you're not in pain?" she asked frustratedly, leaving the knife in my arm.

"Because I'm in so much pain already. If you're being tortured, do you notice if you stub your toe?" I yanked the knife out and looked for an opening in my millisecond of thought time. I found one: the eye. That's where I buried the knife, her left eye. Her blood curdling scream filled me with a strange feeling of satisfaction, so I decided to try for more. I yanked out the knife and shoved it right back in.

"Not so keen for pain now, are you?" I mocked. "Is it because I'm not Lord Sombra? I was going to kill him at first, but I think I'll just torture him and make you watch for all of eternity."

"Alex!" gasped Sombra. He was in pretty bad condition. His arm was broken, he was missing some teeth and his chest was filled with knife wounds. "Retreat!" Alex shoved me out of the way and grabbed her master. She pulled out her horns and surrounded them in a red haze.

Pop!

They disappeared from the room, leaving me depressed, confused and more than a little angry.

"Damn it!" I shouted. "Damn it! Damn it all the way to Hell! Why did he do that?"

"To protect me." whispered Fluttershy.

"What?"

"He didn't know the full plan. I did. That's how I found you. He was trying to protect me."

"Mom!" shouted Storm. "He knew! I have an idea!" She rushed over to the wall and pulled off a knife. She stabbed it into War's chest, then reached through his pockets.

"What are you doing?" I asked, angrily watching her pull out a flask.

"What does this smell like to you?" she asked, tossing it to me. I sniffed it and was hit with a disgusting, intoxicating smell.

"It's not vodka." I said, chucking it back. Storm popped the top and poured the contents onto War's chest. She reached into her mane and pulled out a lighter.

"My dad knew about my Sight." she said, lighting the lighter and dropping it on her father. Flames instantly picked up on War, confirming my suspicions that the contents of the flask was gasoline.

"What Sight?" I asked angrily. "Stop being ridiculous."

"What's wrong with me?" asked Storm, closing her eyes. "Mentally, what do you think is wrong with me?"

"You're schizophrenic."

"Wrong. I can See." she said. "I can See things that others can't see. I'm a spirit medium."

"Storm…"

"Let her do her thing." said Pinkie. The flames slowly changed in color, turning from orange to pink. Storm opened her eyes once more, they now having turned fuschia. She stuck her hand in the flames and grasped his chest. She pulled upwards, lifting up a cloud of red gas. The gas condensed to form a body, tall and stocky. The body of War.

"It's dark." he said. "Who turned out the lights?"

"Robert!" I said excitedly.

"Who turned out the lights?" he repeated.

"Storm?" asked Pinkie. "What happened?"

"Who turned out the lights?"

"Oh no." I said. "Whatever you did didn't work."

"No, I'm just screwing with you guys." he said, extending his arms. "You have a few minutes. You can do a lot in a few minutes."


	10. Opening Old Wounds

"You don't have very long." said War. "This place is about to explode."

"What makes you say that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Look up." We looked up and saw still, unmoving flames surrounding us in a little bubble.

"How?" I asked.

"The failsafe." explained War. "The spell decayed from everyone except for yours truly. The only reason you're okay is because I'm blocking the explosion. I can't hold it forever."

"Then let's go." I said, opening a Rift.

"No can do. If I move too fast, my protection spell will wear off."

"How did you know?" asked Storm.

"I've been exposed to so much death before I was born that Black Aura rubbed off on my soul. It gives me knowledge that I don't understand until I have to. I knew as soon as I saw you, Scoots, and Pinkie passed out in your room. I could sense it."

"Why didn't you say anything?' asked Pinkie.

"I wasn't sure. In fact, I didn't know until just now."

"You can start making sense when we're safe." I said. "Can you hold it for long enough for me to get Conjure?"

"Nope. I have about two minutes."

"Well, push the explosion back some more." I said, fear running through my body.

"I can't. Any attempt to reverse the explosion will cause my shield to decay instantly."

"Then let it explode and just use Vitality!" I shouted.

"That only works on physical bodies. I'm dead."

"I brought you back to life once." said Storm. "I can do it again."

"No you can't. This will only work once. And even if you could do it again, I wouldn't want you to. This hurts so much." he said.

"Can we touch you?" asked Pinkie.

"It'll feel like your blood is boiling. I don't think you want that." he answered. Pinkie leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"I don't care." she said.

"Listen, there's only about 30 seconds left. Chris, you have to go to Canterlot Castle. We burned the Crystal Bunker down. Sombra would've found us. Just go. Everypony is should already be there."

"Dad, I'm going to take Thor and I'm going to make you proud." said Storm, picking up War's hammer.

"I know you will. Now get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you." I said, mentally changing the destination of the Rift. "I'm not walking out of here without you."

"Get out of here, stupid. Don't die trying to protect the dead." he said.

"Let's go!" I shouted. War slowly pointed his left hand at us and willed forward. An invisible wall pushed the four of us through the Rift just as the shield collapsed.

BOOM!

We fell through the Rift, into the throne room of Canterlot Castle. Everypony was there, just like Robert said. I shut the Rift and dropped my weapons.

"Silver." said Fluttershy. I tried to hold back my tears but failed terribly. I ran out of the room and into the armory, ignoring my friends who were calling my name. I shut the door and threw a weapon rack against it to barricade myself in. I picked up a helmet and threw it against the wall with all my might.

"Damn it!" I shouted, feeling the thick, hot tears run down my face. "Damn it!" I picked up another piece of armor and threw it, this time at a painting of the old princesses lying on a cloud with Twilight's cutie mark reflecting on a lake beneath it. The painting fell to the ground, revealing a hole in the side of the wall. I remembered hearing about this secret tunnel. I grabbed a knife and slid down the tunnel, landing in a small basement. There were barrels upon barrels, crates upon crates of vodka propped against the wall, for this was War's secret brewery.

"Mom, Sarah, the girl, War, everyone!" I shouted. "I can't save anyone!" I took the knife and dug it into my right arm. It's been years since I've cut, but this was getting to be too much. I was growing numb to everything and I needed something, just a little something to feel. I twisted the blade, watching the blood pour from the wound. I stumbled dizzily and lost my balance, falling on my butt. My vision began to fade and I was hit with a startling realisation: I cut too deep.

"Why am I such a failure?" I asked myself before blacking out completely.

* * *

I made my little wooden horse gallop along the side of the sandbox. I loved this horse. It was my favorite toy, and Matthew was about to take it.

"This is our spot." he said, followed closely behind by his best friend Patrick. "Move."

"But I want to play here, too." I said, making moving my horse along. Matthew pushed me to the ground and took my horse.

"This is our spot. Get lost." said Patrick. Mat handed the horse to his friend, who turned and threw it. The horse slammed into the chest of a really big kid. He was about twice my height and twice as wide. He picked up my horse and gave it back to me. Then, he grabbed Matthew and Patrick and shoved them to the ground.

"Now this is my spot." he said. "You should get lost." They both ran off, terrified of this new big bully. I scrambled up and went to follow, but was stopped by his big hands.

"Please don't hurt me!" I begged.

"I'm not going to hurt you." he said. "I just want to be friends. I'm Robert. What's your name?"

"I'm Christian. How old are you?"

"I'm six. How about you?"

"Five. Are you new to this school?"

"Yup. Me and my best friend Isaiah." he said. "We don't have too many friends."

"I'll be your friend." I said. "You're nice."

"So are you. Wanna go meet Isaiah?"

"Sure. Where is he?"

"He's inside, reading a book. Before we go see him, let's promise to be best friends forever. I'll protect you, and you'll protect me."

"Okay. I promise." I said with a smile. I'd never had friends before, not unless you counted Sarah. She was more like my sister anyway. Robert and Isaiah, my first friends. I promised to protect them, and they me. I obviously broke my end of the agreement.

* * *

I awoke on a small table, my right arm bandaged and bloody, my mouth as dry as cotton. My stomach was ripping at itself, both in hunger and agony. At my sickbed were Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Conjure.

"Look who finally woke up." said RD. "The dumbass presents himself."

"You know what, asshole?" I said, sitting up slowly. "I've put up with a lot of your shit over the years, but this time, you've pushed me too goddamn far! Get the hell out of my face and go do something useful with your pathetic life!"

"Chris, calm down. She's just worried." said Conjure.

"I don't give a damn how worried she is! I don't care about anything anymore! Nothing matters except Sombra, how I'm going to kill him, how much he's going to suffer!"

"Slow your roll, jackass." said Dash. "Don't you want to tell us where Rob is?"

"Get out of here." I said quietly. "Go talk to the rest of the group. This is not a request. This is an order. Get out. Now!"

"Geez! I'm going!" she said, leaving the room. "Call me when you get your panties out of your ass."

"What do you two want?" I asked.

"We were just worried sick, darling." said Rarity. "It took us a whole hour to find you!"

"So I was out for an hour?" I asked.

"You wish." said Conjure. "We found you yesterday. It's noon right now, and you should probably get something to eat."

"I'll eat when Sombra's dead. Where is everypony? I need to get a gauge on the plan."

"The plan failed. Sort of. The Charges were supposed to kill off all of the reanimated. Based off of the energy signatures, it only partially killed them. They are defeatable, if we can inflict fatal damage nine times."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you did that on purpose. Cats with nine lives much?" I said, getting off of my table. "We need to talk. Rarity, beat it."

"Of course, but before I go…" she said, rolling up her sleeves. She showed me her wrists, which had long, thin scars going horizontally across. "You don't have to go through this alone, Silver. You can always talk to me about it." She hurried out of the room, leaving me alone with Isaiah. I made sure the door was closed before beginning my tirade.

"Robert's dead." I said. "He died and there's nothing to do about it."

"Yeah, I know." he replied. "Storm told me everything, even explained the Sight to me."

"The what?"

"The Sight. It's a power that allows her to see and communicate with the dead. It's quite fascinating. She's a true, honest-to-goodness spirit medium! She can see them, talk to them, go into their realm, even channel them into her own body."

"What? That means we can talk to Robert!" I said excitedly. "It's not a perfect solution, but it'll do!"

"No. Since Storm brought War back already, she won't be able to do it again. He's gone. Even she can't see him. He seems to have disappeared from the Spirit World."

"Then what good is she?" I asked bitterly. "What good are any of you? We're all a bunch of failures. We can't do anything but fail and die and moan. What the hell is the point of us being here?"

"We can fight. The point of us is to win. Never stop fighting. We can avenge our dead and make sure that the world is safe."

"No way will we ever win. What's the point in fighting?"

"We can win. We _will_ win, or die trying."

"Since when were you so stupid? We're fighting a god! It's us against a god! 2 men, 9 women and 5 children against 2 all-powerful beings and an army of the undead!"

"Sure, we brought a knife to a gunfight but-"

"Knife in a gunfight is an understatement! We brought a knife to a rocket launcher fight! A knife to a goddamn missile crisis! What do we have that could possibly win us this war? We're losing! You've always been smart, always been the one to deliver the numbers, so what's our chances of winning? If we were to go and fight right now, what are our odds?"

"0 percent. Our odds of winning, right now, are 0." he said. "But not because of the reasons you think."

"Then why?"

"Because you've given up. You're feeling sorry for yourself and you're throwing away our trump card. You've tossed aside our greatest asset. Our friendship. I know it sounds cheesy, but if you stick with your friends, we can get through a lot.

"War stuck with his friends. See what happened?"

"Yes. He saved his friends and family. Don't let his death be in vain."

"Why are we still here? In fact, where is here?"

"Still in the basement. I poured you some vodka. I thought you might want a drink." he said, grabbing a glass and bottle, both filled with drink. I looked at the glass for a moment, then grabbed the bottle.

"Thanks." I said, taking a swig. "Now, before I get us all killed, explain to me what was up with Rarity. Why'd she show me those scars?"

"Because she wanted you to know that you're not the only one who's lost something during this war. What you failed to realise is that we're fighting her daughter. You plan on killing her daughter and you expect her to help. You can guess how bad that hurts."

"But why'd she cut?"

"The same reason you did. But none of that matters now. We can talk about it later." he said. "Now, there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Right now you're on anger and depression. I'm going to need you to skip all the others and get to acceptance. Accept that he's dead, and accept that the person you thought you were, and the person I thought I was, are dead. Christian Brookes and Isaiah Simmons are dead."

"I never liked those guys anyway." I said, taking another swig. "They were tools."

"Yeah, I guess they were." he chuckled. "Let's go." He placed his hand on my shoulder and bathed us in an emerald light.

_Pop!_

We reappeared in the throne room with all of my friends standing around anxiously. I strutted over to my fallen weapons on the floor, picked them up, and replaced them on my hip. I tried to speak, but thought I'd need a little more vodka. A problem that I could solve easily enough.

"War's dead." I said. "He died saving us. What's worse is that the Charges didn't work to their full capabilities. We have to kill each enemy nine times over to affect it. Not ideal. That being said, I want you to forget everything you think you know about this war. We have some new rules."

"Like what?" asked Marceline.

"Nobody goes scouting, nobody fights, nobody goes to the goddamn toilet without it going through me first. So, if anyone else has any potential helpful abilities I'm not aware of, now would be the time."

"I can talk to animals." said Spencer.

"And I have the Stare." added Marcy.

"Like I said, is there anyone with _helpful_ abilities? No? Okay, I figured. Storm and Pinkie do not leave this base unless I give them express permission. I don't need them getting themselves or anypony else killed."

"What?" asked Pinkie. "We're fine! We won't-"

"Next rule: I'm the General now and will be addressed as such. You do not talk back to your General. It's about time I've gotten some respect. From all of you, including the young, little, too-big-for-their-britches princesses. I give the orders and you follow them, quickly and without hesitation. Last rule for now, and this one is important. This applies to everypony, but especially Fluttershy, Spencer and Marceline."

"What?" asked Flutters.

"Don't touch my vodka." I said, taking another swig. "Let's get moving. Flutters, I need you to disappear. Commandoshy is what I want right now."

"I just watched a close friend die. What do you think is going to happen?" she asked.

"Watch the sarcasm. I'm in no mood."

"Look on the bright side." said Scootaloo.

"What bright side?"

"I don't know, but when we find it, we should look on it." I looked at her for a second with a look of complete disbelief.

"Applebloom, if you don't get this bitch out of my face, I might just kill her."

"I don't know who ya think you are, but ya ain't hurtin Scoots." said Applebloom.

"How much do you want to bet?" I said. "You two need to get the hell out of my face before you meet an unfortunate destiny. You searched so many years for yours, after all."

"Was that really called for?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah, it was. I don't like your friend's stupidity. In fact, I feel like it might have rubbed off on you too, so please, if you'd be _ever_ so kind, get the hell out of here. Go home. Be useful. For once."

"When did you become such a jackass?" asked Scootaloo.

"When I was given the task of saving your worthless, pathetic lives. Now get out of here!"

"Girls, it'll be best if you just listen." said Conjure, his horn glowing green. The Crusaders were surrounded by an emerald haze and….

_Pop!_

They vanished from the room. I ripped open a Rift and pointed at my family.

"Spencer, Fluttershy and… the princesses, with me." I said. "We're going to see Chrysalis."

"What for?" asked Luna.

"She's going to help us."

"No, she won't. She's not going to risk half of her people." said Celestia. "She already gave up half of them to protect the others, so why would she send the other half to their death?"

"Because I'll kill her otherwise." I said. "Storm, bring me your father's hammer."

"Er… I can't." she said.

"Why ever the hell not?"

"I kinda don't have it anymore." she said sheepishly.

"Kinda?"

"I combined it with Loki."

"Let me guess. You call this one 'Odin'." I said sarcastically. She hurried out of the room and returned a short second later holding a twin-headed hammer, one head squared, like Thor, and one head rounded, like Loki.

"Say hello to Odin." she said.

"Give it here." I said.

"No can do. You won't be able to lift it."

"Why not?"

"It's heavy." she said simply.

"How heavy?"

"About as heavy as two hammers."

"Give me the goddamn hammer." I said irritably. She shrugged her shoulders and handed Odin to me. I grasped it and instantly dropped it to the ground. To say it was heavy would be an understatement.

"You look like you could use a hand." said Conjure, snapping his fingers. The head of Odin glowed emerald and rose into my hands. It was much lighter now, light enough for me to swing. I placed it on my back and felt the magic leather straps wrap themselves around my chest.

"Everypony ready?" I asked. "Good. Through the Rift. I want to be in and out as soon as possible."


	11. The Queen's Aid

I stepped through the Rift, followed close behind by my squad, and landed in a round room made out of grey stone and some sort of webbing. near the back of the room was a large throne, also made of that webbing and stone, in addition to black bones. Atop the throne was the changeling queen, wearing robes as black as her shell.

"Oh, just what I need!" she lamented. "A week ago it's Sombra, the other day it was you two little goody-goodies and now it's Silver Rift!"

"_General_ Silver Rift." I said. I pulled out my gun and aimed it at her. "And I don't have time for chit-chat, so let's get down to business, yeah?"

"Silver, I really don't think you want to do that, especially not with my most elite guard about to enter this room with my glass of water." she said. Just then, a thick-plated changeling walked in from behind Chrysalis. I aimed Lunar quickly and fired a round into his head. Green blood spewed onto the floor. I stepped over to his body and shot three more bullets into his chest.

"I'm going to make my position very clear." I said, shaking the shells out of my gun. "Give me an army and I'll let you and your people live."

"Was it necessary to kill one of my children?" she asked. "He did nothing to you, didn't even draw a weapon. When we met you were a little MLK, now you're a wannabe Hitler?"

"Spencer, I need you to set a fire on the entire kingdom." I said.

"What?" he asked in shock. "I'm not going to do that!"

"And we will not allow you." said Luna.

"Don't be a fool." said Celestia.

"Do it now, boy." I said. "I'm not asking you."

"Well, I'm not doing it, you can't make me, and you can't do it without me, so I suggest you find a different plan."

"Is that a fact?" I said, pulling Celestial off of my hip. The blade burst into a plume of orange fire, something I taught myself to do as soon as Spencer showed me it was possible. "I don't need you. Anything you can do, I can do better." I pointed the sword at the wall behind me and sent a huge wave of flames out at the wall. Spencer drew his Celestial and blocked the fire with his own blade.

"When did you learn that?" he asked.

"Like I said: anything you can do, I can do better." I said, extending my palm. Spencer's Celestial began to glow a bright yellow, then lost it's shape entirely. It's formless beam shot towards my hand and re-shaped itself into Celestial. I swiped the blades at each other and felt an unnatural heat build in my hands. Both swords burst into flames, black flames, hotter than hot and wilder than wild. I stabbed the ground and mentally pushed the fire to spread. A large fire started in the middle of the floor and it slowly but surely began to grow.

"You've lost your mind!" said Celestia. "Extinguish the flames at once!"

"Who do you think you are?" I asked.

"Your rulers. Respect your princesses." said Luna.

"Funny thing about that. I don't have a ruler. I'm in charge of my own life, thank you very much."

"Then answer me this: Do you own a house?" asked Celestia.

"Yes."

"Do you own a car?" asked Luna.

"Yes." I answered, failing to see the point.

"No, you don't."

"Pardon?"

"_We _own a house and _we_ own a car." said Celestia. "We just allow you to use them."

"I have a few questions of my own. Do you have air in your lungs?"

"Not for long." said Chrysalis. "In a second, it's going to be nothing but smoke and ash."

"Do you have blood pumping through your veins? Before you answer: No, you don't. I _allow_ you to breathe and live. If I really wanted to, I could kill the both of you in a second."

"I doubt that." said Luna.

"I own the both of you. I own all of you! All of Equestria, all of Earth, all of Chrysalis' kingdom! You all owe your existence to me! You do not want to get me mad! I'm the most important thing in this room!"

"Christian." said Fluttershy sternly. "Enough."

"We don't need you." said Luna.

"We can defeat Sombra on our own." added her sister.

"Then do it. I dare you to try."

"We'll have to get you out of the way first."

"Yes. We can't have you causing a ruckus." added Celestia. She aimed a blast of yellow light right at my head. I rolled under it and grabbed her by the throat. I picked her up and slammed her to the ground, knocking her out.

"Silver!" said Chrysalis. "Stop this madness at once!"

"You dare lay hands on the princess?" asked Luna outraged. She threw a punch at my head. I ducked it and swept my hoof across the back of her legs. When she hit the ground, I stomped her hard in the chest. I leaned forward and punched her in the side of the skull, putting her to sleep as well.

"Dad!" said Spencer, backing up out of the way of the fire. "I can't stop the fire!"

"I wouldn't expect you to. These are nearly unquenchable black flames. Only the caster can control them." I explained.

"Well, you should start controlling them!" said Fluttershy, trying to escape the flames that were gently licking at her hooves. I calmed my mind and made the fire lower slightly, just enough so that my family wouldn't be barbequed.

"Chrysalis, I'm going to ask you once and only once. I need your changelings. Give them to me."

"I can't." she said. "I promised to protect them."

"I promised to protect someone. You know what happened to them? They died. And it's all your fault. And now, you're going to sit there, not even showing me enough respect to stand, you're going to sit there and tell me that you won't help fix your own mistake?!" I said angrily. I walked up to her throne and pressed Lunar against her forehead.

"I haven't stood up because I can't. For two reasons." she explained. "The first reason is because of our hive-mind. I feel everything my children feel, including the pain of the reanimated. My blood is boiling with the heat of one thousand suns. There is melted glass running through my veins and I cannot move because hurts so badly."

"The other reason?"

"I just gave birth. I laid over ten thousand eggs in the past 48 hours. I'm at my weakest after I lay my eggs."

"Hm. Seems there's about to be ten thousand new changeling orphans." I said, chambering my rounds. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and was face to face with War himself.

"Don't." he said simply.

"Silver if you kill me, all changelings will die, ally and enemy alike. If you spare me, I can help you in a different way." she said."What will you do? Kill off an entire race to defeat a handful of enemies or join forces with them to defeat the evil?"

"Tempting offer. I might have to go with the former." I said, squeezing the trigger halfway.

"You're becoming the thing I never wanted to be." said War. "If you kill her, you'll be no better than Sombra."

"What would you have me do?!" I asked. "What would you do, Robert?!"

"Silver?" said Fluttershy. "Who are you talking to?"

"Don't stoop to his level. Be better than him." said War as he slowly faded from view.

"You have ten seconds to catch my attention." I said.

"His next stop is Ponyville and his forces are much more limited than he'd like you to believe. Only three hundred of my changelings survived the process." she said quickly.

"So we have to kill the equivalent of 2700 enemies, not counting any humans or Equestrians." I said. "Anything else?"

"Sombra can only be killed if his head is removed. He will endure anything else."

"Good to know." I said. I lowered my gun and shot her in the left leg. She cried out in pain and grasped her wound, halting the green blood oozing from it. I snapped my fingers and the flames receded, dying out completely after a while.

"But I helped!" she said.

"Which is why it was only the leg." I said, opening two Rifts side by side. "Spencer, get the princesses through the one on the right. Flutters, we're going through the one on the left."

"Okay, but you're going to have to explain what that little outburst of yours was about." said Flutters. I ushered her through our Rift and watched Spencer drag the princesses through theirs.

"You just love to be the hero, don't you Robert?" I whispered to myself. I could almost hear his sarcastic laughter all the way from the Spirit World. "I should've just killed her."

"I'm right here." said Chrysalis. "You should get those hallucinations checked out."

"Hallucinations? Nah. It's just the drink." I said, stepping through the Rift. "I need more vodka." That's exactly what I did. I tripped through the Rift and into the brewery, where I grabbed another bottle of vodka. Lord knows I'd need it.

"Never took you as a drinker." said War, appearing before me.

"Give it to me straight: Am I crazy?" I asked him. "Are you just a figment of my imagination?"

"No, although I'm pretty sure that's what a figment of your imagination would say. I'm just checking in on you. And I've come with a warning."

"Which is?"

"Don't be an idiot. Conjure was right. You're throwing away your friendships. If you continue along that path, you will die. Without question."

"How can you be so sure?"

"The Black Aura has given me knowledge far greater than any mortal. I can see everything, all that was, all that is, all that will be. The building blocks of the universe itself are mine to browse."

"Then what's my future?" I asked, taking a swig.

"I hope you're not right handed." he said. "I have to go. One last question?"

"Yeah. What exactly are you?"

"An oracle of sorts. Like I said, I can see everything. I can travel between the Spirit World and the Physical Plane, albeit for a short while, because my Aura blurs the line between life and death. I'm just here to keep you going in the right direction. It's funny. All my life people thought I'd become a demon, like my father. As it turns out, I'm an angel. Your Guardian Angel. Stay safe."

"You can't leave me like this!" I shouted as he faded away."Don't leave me like this!" I dropped onto my butt and let the tears flow once more. I didn't know why I was being so rude and heinous to my friends. I just had so much anger and bitterness at everyone, just because they were alive. That's when it hit me.

"Dear God." I whispered. "I'm turning into my mother." It was true. After all these years, I finally found out why she hated me so much. Not because I was a brony or I wasn't the most normal kid, but because of what I took from her. My mom told me the story of the day my dad died, but never all the details. Now, I knew.

"The day your father died should've been the happiest day of our lives." I remember her saying. "I told him something that should've made him cry with joy, but instead, it made him very upset. That night, he went to sleep and never woke up."

"I figured it out." I said to nobody. "Hey War! If you're listening, tell me if I'm right. Just give me a sign. My mom lied. My dad didn't die before I was born. He died the day I was born. He didn't want me so… he started popping pills again!" I didn't know where this knowledge was coming from. Maybe Robert's Black Aura rubbed off on me.

"He OD'd, didn't he? Tell me if I'm right." A gust of wind flew in from nowhere and knocked my bottle out of my hands, spilling vodka all over the floor. "That's a sign enough for me. That I'm right, not to stop drinking." I reached into a crate and pulled out another bottle, which quickly slipped from my hands, shattering the bottle and spilling my drink all over the floor.

"Damn it, Robert. I never took your drink." I said. "I suppose you're right. I should probably stop. Apologize and such. I can't end up like my mother. I'll make things right. After we win." A gust of wind, solid wind, flew through the air and smacked me on the back of my head.

"Not cool." I said, opening the Rift. "Better hope we never meet in Hell. I'm going to make you pay for all that liquor."


	12. Traitors

"What do you mean?" asked Spencer in outrage.

"I mean that you're going to sit your ass down before I break your neck." I said, throwing his sword towards the fallen princesses' thrones. "I can't actually trust you, now can I? Of all the times you could go through the rebellious phase and you pick when we're in the middle of a war?"

"Dad, you're losing your mind." said my son. "I've been very obedient."

"I don't trust you or these two. You'll be staying in the bunker beneath the cottage."

"Silver, you better have a very good reason as to why you've attacked my daughters." said Twilight, angrily busting into the throne room with me, Flutters, Spencer and the Unconscious Regal Sisters.

"They betrayed me. I was getting information from Chrysalis and they attacked me. I was forced to incapacitate them."

"You're lying." said Spencer. "You're lying to her face. How do you sleep at night?"

"Like a baby." I said. "He got me. I provoked them and we had a little scrap. I knocked them out. When they wake up, tell them they're off the team."

"Like hell they are." she said. "They're staying."

"How adorable! You thought I was asking you."

"Do you know how dumb it would be if we removed them from the war? We need their help!"

"Why is that?" I asked.

"They've been unbelievably helpful, for one."

"Not really. They haven't done much. All they've done is screw up the Charges."

"Sure, they didn't do exactly what we wanted, but it helped." she said angrily.

"Dad, Princess Twilight has a point." said Spencer. "If it weren't for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, we'd be at a much larger disadvantage."

"If I didn't care about the opinion of Twilight, someone who is infinitely more important than you in almost every respect, why would I care about your opinion?"

"Because he's your son." said Fluttershy. "I honestly think you should let him continue fighting."

"Tough luck. I knew it was a mistake to let him fight. He should've stayed home with his… sister." I said. "Wait a minute. Where is she? Where is everyone?"

"Behind you." said Marceline. I turned around and was shocked (and a little proud) to see my daughter pointing her gun at my face. Beside her was the rest of the army: Conjure, Pinkie, Storm, Aj, RD and Rarity, all of which pointing their firearms at me. As soon as they were in position, Spencer and Fluttershy walked over to join them.

"Chris, it's time you've stepped down." said Twilight, pulling her pistol off of her hip and pointing them at me. I drew Lunar and bounced it from person to person.

"Everypony better watch out!" exclaimed Dash sarcastically. "A man with a single six-shooter is going to take on a swarm of nine people, each of which are holding a weapon much better than his!"

"I wouldn't say a single six-shooter." I said. Marceline's gun began to glow blue then lost it's form. The beam of what used to be Lunar flew towards my hand and resolidified.

"Still, not much of a challenge for us." said Twilight. "Silver, we really don't want to hurt you. I just think that you should let somepony else lead. You've been acting a little crazy. We all think it's for the best."

"So that's where you were? Conspiring against me?"

"We don't really have time for this." said Applejack. "It'd be mighty wise of you to empty them there guns of yers. We wouldn't want to have to shoot ya."

"Fine." I said, opening both cylinders and shaking the bullets out. I dropped my arms to the ground in defeat. "What brought this about?"

"Fluttershy told us about your… little outburst." said Rarity. "We all got together and agreed that the loss of War proved to be too much for you."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand what I'm feeling right now."

"What about us?" said Storm. "You realise he was my father, right?"

"And my husband?" asked Pinkie.

"Not to mention I knew him before you." said Conjure. "If anyone understood how you were feeling, it'd be us."

"So this is your understanding? Nine of you pointing weapons at me?" I asked, stalling for time.

"We didn't have a choice." said Twilight. "You've already proven that you're capable of friendly fire. We had to be prepared." Just then, I felt both Lunars grow ice-cold.

"Don't like friendly fire? How about friendly ice?" I asked. I pointed one gun in front of me and one behind me. I shot at the floor in front of Twilight with one gun and at the floor in front of the army with the other. Instead of bullets, large jets of blue light flew from my guns. When they hit their targets, ice crystals began to build, spreading across the flew and up the legs of my so-called friends. The crystals grew up to their knees, then burst into large quarries of ice, completely freezing their legs.

"How did you do that?" asked Marceline. "Ice blasts? The crystals are still growing! We're going to freeze!"

"Yes, that tends to happen." I said.

"But you emptied you bullets! You can't do that without ammo! You shouldn't be able to do it at all!"

"You guys are mixed with Equestrian, which diluted your powers of the Rift. If you had special skills with these guns, you should've known I had even better ones."

"You dodged my question. Don't want me to learn something I could use against you?" taunted Marceline.

"Lunar takes a few seconds to create ammo for itself. Ever notice how I almost never reload? Now you know why."

"Dad, you have to stop! You've been drinking too much and you're going to kill us!" said Marceline, punching futilely at the ice that was inching up her legs.

"I haven't been drinking too much. I can hold my liquor."

"Dude, you're wasted." said RD.

"I don't get drunk. War never did." I said.

"Yeah, but you're not War." said Pinkie.

"We'll see."

"So that's what this about? You want to be like Robert?" said Fluttershy. "Are you going to leave me for Pinkie now?"

"Don't tempt me." I said. Fluttershy seemed to shrink down in sorrow and tears began to trickle down her face.

"Perhaps that was too much. You know that you're the only girl for me, Fluttershy." I said, slightly apologetically. I turned to walk away, leaving my friends to freeze where they stood, when I heard a gunshot go off. I spun around in shock, trying to find the culprit. Oddly enough, the bullet was hanging in mid-air directly in front of my chest. I plucked the round out of the air in wonder.

"I know that you are upset with each other, but violence is never the answer." said Alexandria, floating down from the ceiling. She landed on the floor and made her wings disappear into white mist. "I think we've all had quite enough conflict without us turning on each other."

"I forgot about you. Where've you been?" I asked.

"I've been patrolling around and defeating changelings. It's been keeping me busy. I've killed 20 so far."

"And you don't think I should step down?"

"Not at all. I trust you to get the job done." she said.

"Finally. Somepony trustworthy. You see, with friends like these ass-wipes, I don't need enemies. They'll kill me long before Sombra has the chance."

"It's not like that!" shouted Rainbow. "How stupid can you be?"

"We're just a little worried about ya." said Applejack. "We'd rather we hurt ya a little before ya hurt yerself so badly that we can't fix ya."

"Unfortunately for you, that's not your choice to make. I'm General, and I make the decisions." I said. "Effective immediately, all of you are considered traitors and will be imprisoned as such. The squad now consists of Alexandria and myself. The rest of you will be locked away until I decide you can be trusted again."

"But what if Spencer and Marceline use the Rifts to escape?" asked Alexandria.

"As I'm sure they've already noticed, I blocked their powers." I said, going to each of my new prisoners and collecting their weapons. Even if I didn't block them, they wouldn't have been able to open the Rift, as the ice had grown all the way up to their arms. They couldn't even twitch their limbs, let alone open a Rift. I wrestled the guns from their frozen hands and placed them on the ground. I summoned Celestial and brought it to Twilight's horn. A swift slice severed her the tip of her horn. I assumed it was painless, since this has happened before without much reaction. I was just about to do the same to her husband when he began to scream and squirm.

"Stop! Don't!" he cried. "I can help! I want to help!"

"Why should I trust you?" I asked.

"I didn't agree to this. I had nothing to do with this attack. Twilight made me go along with it. My sniper didn't even have any rounds in it."

"He's telling the truth." said Alexandria, showing the empty magazine. "He wasn't going to shoot."

"So at least I can trust one of my best friends. Break him free, Alexandria." I said. "And then we need to get ready. This war has been going on for too long."

"I'm coming too." said Fluttershy.

"No you're not, actually. You're just as untrustworthy as the rest of them."

"You seem to forget that I'm your wife."

"So?" I asked, not really listening.

"So, if you ever want to have sex again, I suggest you release me."

"Damn." said RD. I looked at Fluttershy uneasily, trying to see if she was bluffing. The look on her face told me she wasn't.

"Get her out." I ordered. "When I get back, I want you three battle ready. I'm going to go get some vodka."

"Damn right you're gonna let me go." said Fluttershy. "You better let the kids out too. They're going to freeze to death."

"No they won't. The ice won't actually do any harm to them. It's sort of warm ice." I said, walking away. I took down the painting behind Twilight's throne and slid down the tunnel and into the empty brewery. I grabbed a bottle out of a crate and turned around to face War.

"That was a dirty move of her's." said Robert. "Terribly underhanded."

"Just like you're doing now." I shot back. "Why are you only talking to me?"

"You're the only one who needs the help. You were right about your mom. She harbored all of that hate towards you for something that wasn't your fault. You're doing the same thing."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. I can see the hate in your eyes when you look at your friends. Especially Fluttershy. You're blaming her for something that she had nothing to do with. Let it go."

"I don't hate her." I said. "I'm over it. Sorry, but you're not important enough for me to throw my entire marriage away, buddy. Trust me. I'm not mad."

"Then what happened to the rest of that bottle?" he asked. I looked down at the bottle in my hand, which was now three-fourths of the way empty.

"Am I really that drunk?"

"No. I'm just messing with you." he laughed, pointing at my bottle. I watched in awe as it filled up slowly.

"That's all you've been doing lately, hasn't it?" I asked angrily. "You just love to mess with my head! But you don't know how messed up my head already is! I'm so completely out of my mind that I bodyslammed the Princesses of Equestria, froze my friends and family solid and drank at least two liters of vodka! Now, I'm going to get ready to fight and kill the strongest, evilest thing in the goddamned universe! Do you have any clue what sort of mental deficiency that takes?!"

"You should get going then." he said, fading slowly from view. "This is the last time I'll see you like this. We will meet again, but only when you are about to die."

"What? You're abandoning me again?"

"I'll see you soon." he said in his last seconds. He was completely gone.

"But you said you wouldn't see me until I died!" I shouted at nobody. My head was starting to pound and my stomach was turning over. "I'm going to die? I don't want to die! Not yet!"

"Nobody wants to die." whispered somepony from behind.

"What do you want, Isaiah?" I asked.

"We're ready." he said. "What do you want us to do?"

"Wait for me to sober up." I said. "I totally lied. I'm hammered."

"Here." He pressed his index against my head. Dark brown smoke poured out of my ears and flew into the air. It was thick and smelled like eggs and hot wings. As the smoke left my head, the headache and nausea I was experiencing slowly faded from my body. I suddenly felt energized and clear-headed.

"So much better." I said. "Alright. Four of us against over two thousand changelings! We're out gunned, outmatched and out of our minds."

"Sure are. What's the plan?"

"After we lock up the traitors, we're going to scan the area for Sombra. When we find him, we rip him apart as slowly and painfully as possible. Then we do the same to Alex."

"Alexandria isn't going to be too keen on that." he said. "She was very clear that she wanted Alex alive."

"I wanted Robert alive, but I didn't get that. We're killing Alex and there's no way around that. If she has an issue, I can kill her too. Bury her right next to her sister."

"Do you consider them sisters? They're the same person, just in two bodies. Can we call them sisters?"

"I don't give a damn what we call them." I said, reaching into the crate and removing another bottle of vodka. Conjure reached over and yanked it out of my grasp.

"If you keep drinking like this, you're going to get us all killed. Put the bottle down." he said, pouring the contents onto the floor. "That sobriety spell only works once a day. If you get plastered again, we're all thoroughly screwed."

"I thought that one of my rules was 'don't touch my vodka'."

"Rules are made to be broken."

"Bullshit. You never broke the rules. You've always been straight-laced Isaiah Simmons and now you're talking about going against authority?"

"Times have changed. Remember when we thought it was all just a dream? When we thought that the girls were all fiction?"

"Now look at us. Married them, had kids with them. Best friends with them. Robert was the one who called it. He used to say that anything was possible if you believed hard enough." I said.

"We used to think he was nuts. When we were teenagers, Robert told us that he wanted to marry Pinkie. I thought he was crazy."

"I still do. That man is nuts."

"You talk like he's still alive."

"Hm." I grunted.

"Looks like you're in the next two stages of grief. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." he said. "It's time you learn how to separate fact from fantasy."

"In a second, it's going to be time for you to learn how to separate my foot from your ass. Shut the hell up. Don't talk to me like I'm crazy, because I'm not."

"Okay. I believe you." he said smugly. I looked him up and down in bemusement, feeling the rage build in my chest. I reared back and punched him in the face. Then, I reached into the crate and pulled out another bottle.

"Good. You better believe me when I tell you not to touch my vodka, unless you want to lose some pieces." I said, taking a swig. Ironically enough, it wasn't even good. "Let's hurry our asses up. The longer we're at war, the longer we have to wait to bury him."


	13. Mind Games

I shoved my prisoners through the Rift, which would lock them in a bunker beneath my cottage. Now it was just me, Conjure, Alexandria and Fluttershy. I wasn't too sure that I was happy about that last one. She was not very trustworthy, but she followed my orders to report in the throne room.

"It's time for us to get going." I said. "We have a lot of changelings to kill."

"Sir, I was hoping I could show you something I made." said Alexandria. She raised her hand, showing me her a pair of crystal handcuffs. They had a faint white mist rising off of them and they had two big pearls on the chains.

"What are these?" I asked, taking them from her. The chains were cool in my hand and they gave off a strange light.

"These are specially made handcuffs for Alex. They'll restrain all her powers completely and we'll be able to lock her away properly."

"We're not going to need these." I said, tossing them back. "I have a much better method of binding."

"What is that? Sir?"

"Ever hear of a company called Grundy?"

"No. Do they make restraints?"

"Oh yeah. Nothing ever gets out of their products." I said. "Best caskets on the east coast."

"What? You can't possibly mean…"

"Yes. We're going to kill her. No choice." I said.

"But she's my best friend!" cried Alexandria.

"And she killed my best friend. I think that would make us even. You do not get a choice in the matter."

"But… but… Yes sir." she said, bowing her head in defeat. I liked her. She could follow orders.

"You're going to go far if you keep this up, Alexandria. I'm going to keep you close." I said. "I need you to attack Alex's mind. Try to kill her, but if you can't, it'd be great if you can knock her out or something."

"I need a knife, please." she said. I handed her Celestial, which she used to prick her right index finger. She painted a circle of blood onto the floor, then put a triangle inside of the circle. The alchemy circle began to glow white and a small bowl of cinnamon melted out of the floor, followed by four rubies and a raw steak.

"What exactly do you plan to do with that?" asked Fluttershy.

"I need it for my mental battle. Alex used to be able to beat me in a fight of the mind, but if I use some of the things she likes, I might be able to defeat her."

"Excellent. I'd like to see this." I said, crossing my arms.

"I don't think you do." said Conjure. "Their battles were furious and a little disturbing."

"Can you please be quiet?" asked Alexandria, dropping onto her butt. She sniffed the cinnamon deeply, inhaling the deep red powder. She licked the steak and grabbed one of the rubies.

"This is going to be awful." she said. She sank her teeth into the ruby with an odd, cracking sound. As soon as her teeth hit the gem, her eyes began to glow red.

"You really think you can defeat me and Lord Sombra?" said Alexandria. "You could never beat me like this."

"That's Alex." said Conjure. "She's invading Alexandria's mind and is using her to speak. They'll go back and forth."

"Alex, this has gone on too long." said Alexandria. "It's time for all of this suffering to end."

"I agree." said Alex. "That's why you should all submit to Lord Sombra. Give yourselves up so the rest of your people might live in peace."

"Live in peace? You mean like yourself?"

"Yes. Just like me."

"But you're a slave. You're literally Sombra's slave." said Fluttershy.

"But that raises the question: Is a slave a slave if it likes being enslaved?" asked Alex.

"Yes." said all of us.

"No philosophical debate?" asked Alex. "I was hoping we could discuss our opinions and maybe learn about one another."

"Why do you care about what we think?" asked Alexandria. "You don't normally care why people disagree with you. You just try to kill that person."

"Alexandria, she's stalling." I said.

"Lord Sombra!" cried Alex. "I found them! Canterlot Castle! And it's only four. Just stupid Silver, his whore wife, the Conjure idiot and my copy!"

"Don't bother trying to teleport here. We have Double Deadlocked Barrier Spells. Only I can take them down and allow you in." said Alexandria triumphantly. Her eyes fluttered closed, and when she opened them, they were completely black.

"Well, I am you and you are me." said Alex.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "What happened?"

"What Alexandria has forgotten is that we're still psychically linked. With a little work, I can control her, like I'm doing now." answered Alex. Her horn began to glow dark red and the castle began to shake and sputter.

"Get out of my head!" shouted Alexandria. She sniffed more cinnamon and rose to her hooves. Her eyes faded from black to red, then from red to her normal grey. She raised her arms and shot grey light towards the ceiling. It created a dome around us and the castle ceased it's shaking.

"She was always stronger than me on the psychic level." said Alexandria. "Fortunately for us, I trump her in magic. I just cast a spell that removes us from reality. If she or Lord Sombra tries to find us, all they'll find is an empty room. It even distorts time. An eon outside could take a week in here."

"Do I even have to tell you how stupid that was?" I said. "If an eon is a week, a day is what? 1,000,000 years? An hour is 500,000?"

"Don't worry. When we leave, time will synch itself up. It'll be like no time passed at all." she said.

"So, did you win the battle?" asked Fluttershy.

"It seems that Alex retreated, which is… no, No!" she cried, covering her eyes. "Help! Please!"

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"So much blood!" she coughed. "Please, Conjure, help me!"

"Alex is making her think she's bleeding." said Conjure. "Alexandria is hemophobic."

"Why?" I asked.

"This isn't the first time that Alex has made her bleed excessively." said Conjure, grabbing her shoulder. "And she has O- blood, which is extremely rare. She panics whenever she bleeds more than a papercut."

"But she's not bleeding." said Fluttershy. "How are you supposed to fix an imaginary problem?"

"I don't know!"

"Conjure… so much blood…" gasped Alexandria, grasping her hair in terror and pain. "I… can't breathe…. Help."

"I can't do anything to help! This psychic link is way too advanced for me. By the time I crack it, she'll be long dead. She's about to go into cardiac arrest right now." said Conjure, panickedly.

"She hates blood, right?" I asked, grabbing Celestial. I took the blade and slashed Alexandria's right arm, not very deep. Just enough for blood to trickle. I let the blade get nice and coated, then I placed the steel in her mouth. At the taste of her own blood, she coughed a little. I removed the blade and grabbed her up. She whipped her head around in panic, breathing raggedly, then eventually calmed down.

"Is… is it gone?" she asked. She looked down at her bleeding arm and squealed in fear.

"Calm down. This I can fix." said Conjure, snapping his fingers. Green haze surrounded Alexandria's wound, which quickly closed itself up.

"Thank goodness." she sighed. "I'll return us to reality."

"Not just yet." said Conjure. "I want to wait a little while, just in case they really are waiting for us."

"Fine by me." panted Alexandria. She still seemed a little shaken up over her attack and I couldn't help but feel responsible.

"Conjure, get the girl some tea. Something soothing." I said. "And get me some vodka. On second thought, just tea. I think I've had enough to drink."

"You don't say." said Fluttershy. "Some tea sounds great." Conjure snapped his fingers, summoning a round table, a tea kettle, four teacups and four chairs. We sat down quietly as Conjure filled our cups. I took a small sip of the hot, spiced liquid. It was delicious and very familiar.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Masala chai. War's favorite." he said, taking a sip. "You know, we never really had a service for him. Didn't even have time to say a goodbye."

"Well, let's toast to War." I said, raising my cup. "To War."

"To War." they murmured back.

"General Rift?" said Alexandria. "I'm sorry for what Alex did. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

"What do I have to forgive you for?" I asked.

"Well, this is pretty much my fault. It's my fault Sombra was revived, my fault that Alex is helping him and my fault that General War is dead. Please forgive me, sir."

"It's not your fault. If anyone is at fault here, it's me."

"Alexandria, can you sing?" asked Conjure. "War always loved it when you sang."

"Oh, I don't know. It was fine when it was just you, him and Alex, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable singing in front of General Rift and General Fluttershy." said Alexandria, blushing furiously.

"I'm General now?" asked Fluttershy. "I never thought about it. But please, sing for us. I'm sure you have a beautiful voice."

"Go for it." I said. "If War loved it, I know it must be good."

"Fine." she said, blushing even redder than before. She cleared her throat and adjusted her voice. She hummed a little tune and began to sing. Her voice was soft and melodious and it filled my heart with a tingling passion. She began to vocalize a song, deep and emotional, in a language I didn't know. Latin, I think. She chanted a quiet little song, lasting only a few minutes, but it left a lasting impact on me. Even though I couldn't understand what she was saying, I could feel what she meant. She was singing of death, but also of life and love. It only took a few seconds for the tears to start rolling down my face.

"His time has come to an end. We'll never forget him, our long lost friend." she sang.

"That was beautiful." I said, wiping my face. "That was absolutely beautiful. When did you learn Latin?"

"When you train with Conjure, you learn quite a bit." she said. Her face was red as a tomato and you could feel the embarrassment radiating off of her.

"How about a few words for him?" suggested Conjure. "Like a eulogy."

"Who's first?" I asked. Fluttershy coughed quietly and rose to her hooves.

"War and I never really got along. We argued all the time and we got into more than a few fistfights. During the first war, he hated my guts for most of it, and I honestly can't blame him." she said. "It was my fault he lost his friend and I deserved all the hate and anger he had for me. Even after Silver returned, he still had a hidden loathing for me. But he managed to swallow all of that to save not only his friends and family, but also me. He gave his life protecting me, which just isn't fair. He was brave and strong and tender. I could've learned a thing or two about kindness from him. I might not have realized it when he was alive, but I can say now, without doubt, that I am proud to have once called War a friend."

"War saved my life." said Conjure. "He was my best, not to mention only, friend for a good chunk of my life. My mom adopted him when he was two and I was given a brother. Robert is the reason I am who I am. He taught me that your past doesn't matter. You write your own destiny. I always believed that there was nothing you can do about your life and he showed me that I was powerful. We are all powerful. We can change a life, create a life, end a life. He was my best friend, and I owe him more than I'd care to admit. He's the reason I got Twilight. I was too scared to approach her and tell her how I felt. War taught me to have strength even when doing something you don't think you can do. He taught me that the only thing impossible is impossibility."

"General War has been a good friend of mine all of my life, even if it was a short one." said Alexandria. "He was always so brave and strong. Even Alex was afraid of him. But even though he was so powerful and intimidating, he was a great friend. He protected me from Alex when she would bully me and I always felt safe around him."

"Let's go." I said, getting to my hooves. "Alexandria, return us to reality. We're done here."

"You're not going to say anything?" asked Conjure.

"I've said everything I need to say. Let's go. I want to put Sombra in the ground as soon as possible."

"Why are you so obsessed with killing Sombra?" asked Fluttershy. "I know we have to win, but you haven't eaten or slept in days."

"Killing Sombra won't bring him back." said Conjure. "It's time to let go."

"Shut up. I'm not trying to immortalize Robert. I just want Sombra dead. It's time to go."

"Talking about your feelings won't kill you." said Fluttershy.

"It just might. You've never seen me depressed, have you?" I asked. "Of course not. Why would I be depressed around you? You're the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't think even Isaiah or Robert have seen me get depressed more than once or twice. When it does happen, I become really reckless. The day I ran away from my mom, I swallowed a couple dozen vicodin and washed it down with a bottle of gin. Mr. and Mrs. J got me to the hospital and took me in."

"You never told us that." said Conjure softly. "All these years we've been friends and you never really told us what happened that day."

"Well, you never asked." I said defensively. "Didn't really matter, did it?"

"It matters a lot. If I would've known, I would've been there more often. I would've put my studies to the side a little to help my friend."

"I didn't really need help. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"No, you're living." said Alexandria.

"What's the difference?"

"Living is when you breathe and eat and sleep. Being alive is laughing and crying and loving and hating, all in perfect balance. You're living, but not alive."

"I don't think I should take advice on living from you, Alexandria." I shot back. "You've only existed for four years. What makes you an expert on life?"

"No disrespect, General, but I'm actually 16. I lived with Alex as a single person for 12 years, then we split apart for 4 more. Technically, since me and Alex are linked, I have the experience of somepony who is 20 years old. Our 12 years plus an additional 8 from Alex and myself combined."

"That would make sense, if you and Alex were both normal people. You're a bit of a naive ditz and Alex is some evil pet. No offence, but your case is far from typical."

"Be that as it may, we know as well as anypony, maybe even better than some, that living and being alive are two different things. When we were together, we were living, sure, but we weren't alive. It's an important distinction."

"If I wanted to get lectured, I would've invited Twilight." I said, tired of the conversation. "Take us back. Now."

"Yes sir." said Alexandria, raising her hands to the ceiling. The dome of grey energy slowly dissipated from the top downwards. When it was completely gone, I nearly threw up at what I saw. Alex was standing there, injured eye now replaced with a blood red stone. To each of her sides was a human. Not just any humans.

"Hello, Chris." said Mr. Jackson, pupils glowing red. "It's been a while."

"We're sorry you have to see us like this, honey." said his wife, her eyes just as scarlet.

"Long time no _see_." said Alex, removing her scythe from her back. "_Eye_ have to hand it to you, Silver. I didn't _see_ that knife coming."

"Are you done?" I asked, chuckling internally. Those were actually pretty funny.

"If I think of any more, I'll let you know." she said. "I know we've done this bit before, but maybe you can surrender so my master doesn't have to torture you for all of eternity."

"I can't really _see_ that happening."

"Ha. That was funny." she chuckled. Then, she pointed her scythe at my throat. "I didn't come here for jokes. I came to win a war."


	14. Family Issues

Alexandria stepped forward, determined to talk Alex down. I pushed her back and brought the attention to me once again.

"What's with the eye?" I asked. "Couldn't Sombra repair it?"

"All of our weapons are made from Oblivion Iron." she explained. "Any wound opened from an Oblivion weapon cannot be healed by magic. They can only heal naturally, and since eyes don't repair themselves naturally, Lord Sombra had to give me a replacement. This one is better, anyway. Near 360 degrees of X-Ray vision."

"Why did you bring them here?" I asked, gesturing towards the Jacksons. "They've done nothing to deserve this."

"It's fine, Chris, we were going to die soon anyway." said Mr. J. "We were getting old."

"Doesn't matter. You don't belong here. You deserve better."

"Too bad they knew you. Lord Sombra probably would've let them live if they weren't connected to you." said Alex.

"Don't blame yourself for this." said Mrs. Jackson. "It's not your fault."

"Isn't it, though? This is all my fault. I put my friends in danger and I lost some of them because of that. Mom, War, Sarah."

"Sarah's dead?" said Mr. Jackson.

"Not exactly. She's just not here."

"Is somepony talking about my bestest friend in all of the world?" asked a cackling voice. Hanging from the ceiling, upside down, was none other than Discord, laughing crazily as he floated down to the ground. He flipped over to his feet directly in front of me.

"Shouldn't you be looking after Sarah?" I asked angrily.

"She's been healed for a while know. Almost twenty years." he said.

"What?" asked Conjure. "Alexandria! I thought you said time would synch itself back up!"

"It should have! Twenty years? That's ridiculous!" said Alexandria.

"Calm yourselves. Time doesn't work like that in my realm. Nothing happens in order. Time is but an illusion." laughed Discord.

"Why are you here?" I asked, removing Odin from my back. Conjure's feather-weight spell was still in effect, which was good. I would've been very embarrassed if I dropped it right then.

"Just wanted to make sure Alex was winning, but it seems I got here early."

"I thought you were on our side."

"Not this time." he said, becoming serious for the first time since he arrived. "This time, Sombra has to win."

"Whatever Sombra promised you, you know he'll never keep up his end."

"He already did. In fact, he wouldn't have been able to start if he didn't supply me with my demands."

"What could he offer you that was so important to you that you are helping rip worlds apart?" I asked.

"Celestia was 2,319 years old when she died. Chrysalis is 8,333. Sombra is 16,345. I see them the way you see your grandchildren."

"I don't have any grandkids." I said.

"Exactly. The point is, I've seen a lot of the universe. I've seen worlds be born and worlds be killed, millions of times over. In my life, I've only seen two friends. I want them back."

"So he promised you that you could see Celestia and Luna again?" asked Conjure. "You realise why that wouldn't work, right?"

"It's not about if the plan will succeed, rather, that it doesn't fail."

"That's what success means, stupid." said Alex. "You shouldn't have to think about helping Lord Sombra. You should have heard his name and instantly yielded to his command."

"Alex, I don't know if you know this, but Sombra is a child compared to me." laughed Discord. "I can dance circles around him. In fact, I literally did a while back. 10,000 years or so, I literally danced in a circle around him. Those were fun times. Back before Sombra got all butt-hurt and grumpy, he could really cut a rug."

"I know we don't really have opinions here, but can we please get on with this?" said Mr. J. "I'd like for Chris to kill us as soon as possible."

"I'll make it as quick as I can." I said.

"Don't hold back, hun." said Mrs. J. "Just do it. Please, end this pain."

"Of course." I stepped forward and swung my hammer at Mrs. Jackson's head. She ducked quickly and kicked my legs out from under me. As soon as my back hit the ground, I felt a sharp pain slide down my midsection. I kicked Alex's scythe away from my chest, but it had already done it's toll. Fluttershy rushed to my aid and slashed at Alex, who blocked it with the shaft of her scythe.

"Come on! Give me a challenge!" she said, scratching my wife's face with her claws. More scars for Commandoshy.

"Fluttershy, can you handle her?" I asked, rising back to my hooves.

"If Conjure were to give me a hand." she said. Conjure bustled over to help Fluttershy when I thought of Alexandria.

"Deal with Discord." I commanded. I didn't have time to see what she would do, because Mr. J decided to use my moment of distraction to swing at my face. His punch knocked me silly, but also anchored me back to reality.

"I'm slipping." I said, ducking to avoid Mrs. Jackson's kick. "I shouldn't have let myself get hit like that."

"We have knives." she said, pulling the black blade out of her pocket. "We couldn't warn you until now."

"This might sting a bit." I said. I swung Odin with all my might into her midsection. The round head connected and her chest imploded and she fell to the ground dead.

"Is it done?" asked Mr. Jackson, moving towards me slowly.

"Unfortunately, no. She'll be back up in a few seconds. I have to kill her 8 more times."

"So your charges did work." said Alex. I turned to check on their battle, which wasn't going too good for us. Alex had Fluttershy and Conjure pressed against the wall, easily blocking their attacks. I whipped out Lunar and aimed at Alex. As I was about to squeeze the trigger, Mr. J grabbed the barrel and pulled it to his head.

BOOM!

The bullet entered his skull and he collapsed onto the ground, unmoving. I swung around and shot at where Mrs. Jackson should've been, but all I hit was the ground. She was already up and rushing at me, her chest closing back up just in time for her to bury a knife in my side. I shrugged it off and pushed her onto the floor. I felt awful for doing it, but I smashed Mrs. Jackson's head with Odin's square head, sending blood and brains all over the floor. I ripped out the knife and threw it into Mr. J's face, killing him for the second time.

"This is getting tiring." I said, dropping Odin to the floor. Conjure might have made it light enough to carry, but it was still a hammer as tall and heavy as me.

"You think that's hard work?" said Alex, slashing Conjure's stomach. "Try dealing with these two!"

"Don't worry about us!" said Fluttershy as she cut at Alex's leg. "We'll be fine."

"She's right." said Mr. Jackson, rising to his feet. He slowly removed the knife from in between his eyes. "You should focus on us."

"How many more times before we die permanently?" asked Mrs. Jackson.

"Seven. Both of you have seven more lives." I said. I knew I didn't have much longer to be fighting. My last real meal was an order of hay fries and a veggie burger some time last Thursday, so I was running on empty. I summoned my other gun and shot each one once, twice, three times into the heads of my adoptive parents. And then there were four.

"We're getting back up." said Mr. J. "And when we do, watch your legs. That's where we'll attack next."

"Enough of that." said Alex, snapping her fingers. The Jackson's eyes became jet black and they stopped talking. Their minds had been removed.

"No holding back." I said. They rushed at me relentlessly, so fast that I couldn't shoot in time. I was forced to dodge and avoid the slashes of their knives until I could find an opening. I jumped back to avoid Mr. J's knife, not noticing his wife's coming right for my gut. The blade pierced my stomach, sending even more of my blood onto the floor. I slapped her across the face with one Lunar and shot her in the head with the other. I threw down the gun in my left hand and drew my blade. Just as I went to slash Mr. Jackson, I stumbled back onto my butt, exhausted. Malnourishment combined with steady blood loss from three different wounds was finally taking it's toll on me. Mr. Jackson lurched towards me and stabbed downwards. I rolled out of the way and impaled him through the chest. Three more. I only had to kill them three more times.

"I can't do this three more times." I said breathlessly. "I'm out of gas."

"Then I will assist you." said Alexandria, running in front of me. "Please stay back, sir."

"Alexandria, get back!" I said. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

"She'll have to be." said Mr. Jackson. He rose to his feet, apparently in control over his mind once again. His wife rose next to him, also able to speak coherently.

"Three more?" she asked. "Is that all?"

"Yes. I hope I don't keep you waiting." said Alexandria. She pressed her palms against the floor, sending grey light across the floor. The light pooled against my adoptive parent's ankles, freezing them in their tracks.

"This might sting a bit." she said. Great, big bolts of lightning rained from the ceiling, hitting them directly on top of the head. They shook and sputtered, as if having massive seizures. They dropped onto the ground, horribly burned. The room was filled with an acrid, burning smell, like flaming sewage.

"That smells delicious!" said Alex, dropping her guard for only a second. A second was all it took for Conjure and Fluttershy to capitalize. They both stabbed her through the midsection, spewing blood all over the floor and causing her to scream in agony, her pain filling me with a disgusting joy that I felt evil for afterwards.

"Thwarted by my own stomach." she groaned, flapping her wings hard and pushing herself into the air. Her horns grew from her head and began to glow red. "Clean up this mess, Discord. Meet us at base when you ultimately fail."

_Pop!_

Alex vanished from the room. Unfortunately, her minions remained, getting to their feet as their skin healed their burns. They rushed for Alexandria, who swiped her hands to the left. Giant crystal spikes grew from out of nowhere and impaled the Jackson's through the side. Alexandria clenched her fists and spread out her fingers. The spikes that were stuck in the Jacksons grew hundreds of thin, sharp needles along them. The needles burst from their skin, spreading out from inside of them.

"The Crystal Pincushion." said Alexandria, gasping for breath. "Terribly difficult to pull off without the aid of blood. Nearly impossible, actually."

"Did you invent that?" asked Conjure. "I've never seen anything like it, and I've read the entire history of combat magic. Twice."

"Yes. This is a technique of my own creation. I do not think I can do it again." she said, sitting slowly on the ground. "In fact, I don't think I can do anything right now. Discord must've put something in the tea."

"You had tea with the God of Chaos?" I asked, rising to my feet. "If you can explain to me in one sentence why you thought that was a good idea, I might not punish you."

"You trust him."

"What makes you say that?"

"You let him take Sarah. You wouldn't let him take Sarah if you didn't have complete trust him."

"Do not talk about Sarah." I said, angrily grabbing both of my guns from off of the floor. "Ever."

"Will she be okay?" asked Mrs. Jackson. "Sarah? Will she be alright?"

"I guarantee." I said. "She'll be okay. You won't be running into her anytime soon."

"That's good." said Mr. Jackson. "Hurry up and finish us before we break free."

"I could never say this enough when you were alive, but thank you. You guys saved my life more times and in more ways than you could possibly understand. Thank you so much."

"We should be the ones thanking you." said Mrs. Jackson. "You were our only son, and we love you. Just promise me you'll calm down a tad. If half of the things that awful unicorn told us are true, you've become quite ruthless. It's frightening and a little shaming to know that you are stooping to his level."

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'm pissed is all. Robert's gone, my mom's gone. Sarah's gone, and she left because I was a terrible friend."

"You were Sarah's best friend all her life and she loved you." said Mr. J. "I really wish you felt the same."

"I loved her, just not in the same way. Don't worry. She's with someone who does." I said. I pressed the barrel of each gun against their respective heads and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

Their bodies slumped onto the spikes as blood and brain matter splattered onto the floor. I dropped my weapons in exhaustion and fell onto my back. At that moment, I could only ask for one thing.

"Food!" I cried. "Somepony please get me some food! I am starving!"

"Here." said Conjure, snapping his fingers. A dish of baby carrots appeared in my left hands. I grabbed a fistful and shoved them into my mouth.

"Thank the Lords!" I said through a mouth full of veggie goodness. I swallowed and requested a bottle of water. When Conjure got me my drink, he summoned a roll of gauze, which he then dressed my wound with.

"I'd give you more to eat, but I think you should stick to something small for now." he explained. "Too much food too soon after fasting for too long can have adverse health effects."

"Like my stomach bursting. I think this is the best course." I said, chewing on another carrot. I felt like Angel. "Go check on Alexandria. Discord put something in her drink."

"I'm fine, sir." she said, getting back to her hooves. "It was a simple magic-dampening charm. It will wear off in two minutes."

"What were you thinking? I told you to deal with Discord, not offer him a drink."

"Neither of us wanted to fight. We prefer to observe the battle and only intervene when necessary. He left right after Alex did."

"Which reminds me: That stab was really impressive." I said. "Good job, Conjure. You too, babe."

"Thanks." said Fluttershy. "We didn't kill her, though."

"Yeah, I noticed. Don't worry about it." I said. What I was about to say wasn't going to be soft on my pride. "I'm rescinding my order to kill Alex. If possible, we capture her."

"Are you serious?" asked Alexandria, jumping to her hooves. "That is just fantastic! Please tell me you are serious."

"I'll give her a chance. If we can avoid killing her, we will. If there is no way to take her peacefully, we will have to kill her. Do you understand? This is a chance. She can still ruin this and get herself killed."

"Of course, sir. It would always be just a chance." she said. "Alex always had a way of getting herself into trouble, even when her friends are trying to help her."

"Are you two really friends?" asked Fluttershy.

"Of course. She and I are best friends. We've been through so much together over the years. So many good memories."

"Like what?" I asked.

"We'd have breakfast at 7 in the morning. I'd always have tea and a small omelette, while she would have a raw T-bone and melted steel." she recalled. "At 8 o'clock, we'd begin our private lessons with our teachers. At 11, we'd break for lunch."

"At noon, we would have a joint lessons." said Conjure. "That's when we'd teach the girls how to use their psychic powers together."

"At 1 o'clock was our break. From 2 to 5 was our last set of lessons. 6 o'clock was supper. 7 was another break and then we went to sleep. It was wonderful."

"What did you guys do during your breaks?" I asked.

"I'd attempt to read and Alex would torment me the entire time. She'd attack me physically and mentally. I would cry almost every day."

"I thought you said these were good memories." I said.

"They are. That's how Alex had fun. She was terrible to me, but she did actually care for me."

"Sometimes I wonder who's really the pet." I said. "You're in denial almost as bad as she is about Sombra. I don't think you two were as good of friends as you'd like to believe."

"She may have shown me a lot of hatred, but it is well deserved. Alex hates nearly everypony and, looking from her point of view, that is totally reasonable."

"What makes you say that?" asked Fluttershy.

"You have to understand where she's coming from. She was literally created with the purpose of killing and destroying any and all who oppose Lord Sombra. We are his biggest opposition, so she naturally hates us more than most. Given her history, Alex isn't as bad as she could've been, although that was perhaps an error on Lord Sombra's part."

"What error?"

"She was just a smidge too cocky. If she was made exactly the way Lord Sombra intended, she would've killed Conjure, War and myself on sight. She was a tad bit too arrogant, which is what led to her initial defeat by War. After War proved his dominance, she became sort of domesticated. She lost her initial cold-bloodedness, like a wild bear being scratched behind the ears. Still vicious and dangerous, just a little calmer for the time being. It was only a matter of time before she regained her edge."

"If Sombra created Alex to serve him blindly, what was his purpose for you?" asked Conjure.

"He had no purpose for me. I am simply a byproduct of his master plan. He never intended to create me. The only reason I do exist is because the good in the pony we used to be had to go somewhere. But if Alex is able to be so evil, does that mean we were evil before our split?"

"I don't think so." I said. "I met you before all of this and you were too sweet for words. Not evil at all. Misguided, confused and more than a little bit angry, but not evil. There is good and bad in everyone."

"What do you plan to do with Alex if we do capture her?" asked Alexandria softly. She seemed to be working up the courage to say something.

"Lock her up. She still ruined more than a few lives and needs to pay for it."

"You will have to imprison me as well."

"Why?"

"Am I really the only one who sees it?" she asked in despair. "All of this is my fault. I helped Sombra escape when Alex and I shared a body. In fact, that was the reason we stopped sharing a body. Lord Sombra wouldn't have been able to attack if it weren't for me."

"Why do you call him 'Lord'?" I asked.

"I think that was supposed to be the part where you say 'Don't be silly. Of course this isn't your fault.'" said Fluttershy.

"Alex sort of rubbed off on me. Plus, I probably should respect my creator." said Alexandria. "Ugh. I just thought about that! Lord Sombra is my father. Ugh! Alex had sex with him! That is just… gross! My sister slept with our dad. Oh my word. That is disturbing to think about."

"Love is weird." said Conjure. "It's blind. And deaf. And apparently has no access to the family tree. Who are we to judge?"

"Don't you have somepony you love?" asked Fluttershy.

"I love all living things." said Alexandria. "But I am afraid I have not met the one yet. I may never meet him. Or her, for all I know."

"You'll find love." I said. "Everyone does, eventually."

"Like Sarah?"

"Yes." I said through gritted teeth. "She finally found the one person to spend her life with."

"Wait, did I miss something?" asked Fluttershy. "Who is Red with?"

"Me. In Discord's dimension, there are exact copies of almost everyone in our world. She's with the clone of me."

"Where the hell is my clone? Why isn't she with yours?"

"You and the girls don't have clones. Something about the Elements that prevents them from existing."

"Hm."

"We've been here for too long." I said, slipping back into the serious general I had to be. "We need to get going. Conjure, what's our next step?"

"If I had to guess, it'd be to take out Celestia and Luna." he answered.

"Your kids?"

"No. The old princesses. We need to eliminate them in order to make our move against Sombra. Only trouble is that I have no clue how to find them. It is my understanding that Sombra stores the corpses in a pocket dimension when not in use. Only way we can get them is if Sombra sends them after us."

"What's a pocket dimension?" I asked.

"We exist inside a great, all-encompassing multiverse. There are many dimensions, such as Earth and Equestria. These dimensions are stacked on top of each other. In the space between them are small pockets in the fabric of the universe called pocket dimensions or pocket universes. They are relatively small, normally no bigger than a bedroom. Sombra has a pocket dimension where he stores his corpses. When Alexandria removed us from reality, she was actually transporting us to a different pocket universe"

"How are we going to get the Princesses out of the pocket dimension and to us so that we can defeat them?" asked Alexandria. Just then, a brilliant idea hit me.

"You. When Alex goes to sleep, sneak into her mind and take control of her body. Then, we just summon the caskets to us!" I said.

"But how will she know when Alex is asleep?" asked Conjure.

"Even though we block our psychic link, we still get certain impulses." said Alexandria. "Since we share certain feelings, I know when she feels extreme pain, pleasure, sorrow, and rage, amongst other things. Sleeping is one of them. As soon as she falls asleep, I will know. My concern is defeating her. I could never beat Alex in a battle of the mind."

"That's not true." said Conjure. "The first day of lessons, before you started bleeding, we had to stop because you hurt Alex so badly. You can reduce her to a crying child if you try hard enough. In fact, it wasn't even her that made you bleed. It was your own mental powers. The intrusion of Alex's mind at that time just strained you a little too hard and then you started gushing."

"But now that she's stronger, she should be able to avoid that?" I asked.

"I would assume."

"Good. Time to get to work, then." I said. "Flutters, I need you to make this room as zen and calm as possible. Alexandria needs the opposite of distractions. Alexandria, I want you to get as many things as you need for this mental battle. Gems, meat, metal. I don't care if you need to summon a still-beating heart, just make it so you can beat her. Conjure, you come with me."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Bring me to the infirmary. I have an idea to make this plan foolproof."


	15. The Sun and Moon's Second Coming

When Conjure and I returned from the infirmary, dragging a large rolling cabinet, we found that Fluttershy had done an impeccable job of making the room calm. She eliminated almost all light from the room, save for a few candles around Alexandria, who was sitting on the floor. In front of her was a dish of cinnamon, a raw steak, a large pile of multicolored gems and many different types of valuable metals, including silver and gold. I dragged the cart over to her and sat on top of it.

"What's in there?" asked Alexandria.

"Stop worrying about things that don't matter." I answered. "Focus on the important things."

"I'm ready when you are."

"There is a large problem with this plan." said Conjure. "It's only 3. It's probably going to be hours before she goes to sleep. I don't think we have time to wait for-"

"She's asleep." said Alexandria, grabbing the steak. "Time for me to get to work."

"Well, just go and prove me wrong, why don't you?"

"Hurry up. We don't have much time." I said. She bit deeply into the bleeding steak and ripped off a hunk. Her eyes began to glow bright white as she inhaled the cinnamon. She sucked on three gems, an emerald, a ruby and a sapphire.

"I don't understand how she eats these." she said. She chomped hard on the gems, cracking off the tips. She swallowed very small fragments of the gem and her eyes glowed brighter than before. The light slowly faded into grey and was darkening steadily.

"I'm losing!" she said. She bit into the metal, a slab of steel, a bar of gold, a chunk of silver. Her eyes continued to darken as Alex subconsciously defended herself from Alexandria.

"She doesn't have long." said Conjure, rushing to her aid. "If she doesn't pull out, Alex might kill her."

"Wait." I said, opening up the cabinet. I pulled out four bags of blood and ripped off the tops. "I was afraid of this." I took the bags to Alexandria and tipped them out over her head. The blood rained down onto her, flowing over her hair and onto her face. She shuddered in repulse as the thick, warm liquid rolled all down her body.

"What is happening?!" she screamed. "Stop this! Now!"

"What are you doing?" asked Conjure. I threw the bags down and picked up four more, which I also emptied onto her. She began to convulse madly as she coughed and choked, sputtering on the blood.

"General! P-please help me!" she begged.

"You can help yourself." I said, drowning her in the last bag of blood.

"How?!" she choked. "Please! I c-can't breathe!"

"Just win. I promise you it will stop."

"I can't! She's stronger than m-me!"

"Silver!" shouted Fluttershy. "Help her!"

"She can do it." I said.

"Christian Michael Brookes! Help her now!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Your wife, bitch! We are going to have some serious issues if you don't help her!"

"What is your issue?" I asked, ignoring Alexandria's panicked choking.

"Ever since War died, you've been a major prick and I've had it up to here!" she shouted, raising her hand above her head to show exactly how pissed she was.

"Then leave."

"Huh?"

"If you're so fed up with me, find somepony else to be with. Leave me." I said.

"I didn't mean it like-" she began.

"You never mean it like that. This always happens. You get so loud and tough, but it's always so fake. I used to think that the nice, weak Fluttershy was gone, but she was always here. Pick a personality, damnit! Be a crazy killer or a whiny bitch, but you can't be both." My words seemed to hit her hard. Tears slowly broke through her eyes and she shook ever so slightly. I'd get a lot of hell for that later, but it needed to be said.

"Are you guys really having this conversation?!" asked Conjure. He pressed his finger against Alexandria's head. His horn began to glow green and the blood slowly siphoned off of Alexandria. I grabbed his hand and pulled it off.

"Look." I said, pointing at her eyes, which were glowing white once again. "It's working."

"What exactly is working?"

"If exposing her to things Alex likes helps, I figured exposing her to things that Alexandria hates would do the same. Oh, and thanks for the help, Shy."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"That argument was a double-whammy. Something Alexandria hates, which is conflict, and something Alex loves, which is conflict. Gave her just what she needed to win. I take it you have complete control over your other half?"

"Yes, sir." answered Alexandria.

"Won't Sombra be able to hear us talking?" asked Conjure. "Since you two are linked and all?"

"I can alternate back and forth between talking to you and talking out of Alex. I'll raise my hands when I have to talk as her."

"Great. Conjure, you can remove the blood now." I said. Conjure pressed his palm against Alexandria's head and sucked the blood off of her. Just as soon as it was all gone, she rose her hands up to her chest.

"Hello, master." she said. "Is there something you wish of me?" There was a second of silence before she squealed like a small child.

"Ooh! Lord Sombra! I love it and all, but is now really the time for that?" she said, giggling uncomfortably. She lowered her hands to talk to us.

"Ew! Dear lord!" she said. "I'm going to need a shower after this. A shower of acid and bleach."

"What did he do?" I asked, not really wanting an answer. Thankfully, she raised her hands to address Sombra.

"I have a concern, master." she said. "My copy accidently let me get into her mind. She's planning to attack shortly. My advice is to send the three princesses in before they have a chance to do so." There was a second of silence, followed by a loud scream from Alexandria.

"Yes, master. I understand that my advice doesn't matter. I apologize." she said.

"This is starting to annoy me." said Conjure, pressing his palm against the back of Alexandria's head. "I'm going to see if I can make it so that we can hear Sombra." Green mist surrounded Alexandria's head. The mist flew in front of her and formed into a green-tinted image of King Sombra. He zipped up his pants, his fly having been down presumably for whatever he intended to so to Alex, and adjusted his armor, then wiped the blood off of the knife in his hand.

"You believe that we need to send the Princesses after them?" he asked.

"Yes. They have amassed a fairly large large army. I think they may be able to do some harm to our forces." said Alexandria.

"What is on your mind? You're never the one to be uneasy about our power."

"My copy is very confident. If she had any doubt at all, she would not have let anything slip. I suspect that she is intentionally leaving me images. The fool still cares about me."

"Hm. I suppose you may be right. It will be best to crush them before they realise how diminished our forces truly are. I will send Celestia and Luna in."

"What about Princess Cadence?" asked Alexandria. Sombra stabbed the knife forward and Alexandria let out a piercing scream of agony.

"Do not pretend that I am some forgetful old fool. I have lived for thousands of years and large details such as Cadenza do not slip my mind. I know full and well that there are three princesses to send." said Sombra as his image blurred. Alexandria lowered her hands to speak to us.

"She's waking up!" she cried. "I'm trying to keep her asleep! I've been manufacturing dreams for her, fantasies about Sombra, but she's going to wake up soon!"

"Just get the princesses here." I said.

"Would you like for me to send them, master?" asked Alexandria, raising her hands once again.

"No. I can send them. You need some sleep. I think all the blood loss from yesterday's torture is finally getting to you. You seem to be ready to pass out." said Sombra. "An unconscious pet is of no use to me, so patch yourself up and head for bed. I thought you were going to take a nap anyway."

"Yes, master." said Alexandria. Sombra's image faded completely and Alex lowered her hands.

"Just barely made it." she said. The light faded from her eyes as she rose to her hooves. "Alex is now sleepwalking her way to her room. She'll wake up with two new knife wounds and wet panties. Please do not ask. I've made her dream about some very unladylike activities that I do not wish to think about."

"You did well." I said. "I thought you were going to lose it when he stabbed you."

"Oh, I did. Alex didn't. When I was in her mind, I got a taste of her thoughts. Alex the Great thinks she's just that: great. She believes that only Sombra can hurt her."

"Now that we've gotten what we need, we can talk about that little discussion." said Fluttershy. "What the hell was all of that?"

"I thought I explained already. It was just so Alexandria could win." I said.

"So you didn't mean any of it?"

"Well… That part about you leaving me was kinda serious. I don't understand why you're still with me. In fact, I don't understand why you agreed to marry me in the first place."

"We don't really have time for this." said Conjure. "Everyone, grab your weapons." I summoned Lunar and Celestial to me while Fluttershy swiped her cutlass through the air. Conjure unsheathed his katanas and Alexandria charged her horn up with pale grey light.

_Pop!_

_Pop!_

_Pop!_

Three caskets appeared about a yard in front of us. The lids popped open and the three former princesses stepped out, their eyes a sinister scarlet. They looked around, apparently confused.

"Where is Twilight?" asked Celestia.

"She's not here." I answered. "It's just us for now."

"Get out of here." said Luna. "It's just you four. At the risk of sounding like a braggart, you could never defeat us."

"I don't even know why Sombra sent us." said Cadence. "This is overkill, even for him."

"Actually, we wanted you here." said Conjure.

"Why?" asked Celestia.

"We need to kill you." I said bluntly. "Sorry, but we do."

"As delightful as death sounds, you will not be able to defeat us. It was suicidal to even consider fighting us with only you four."

"All humans from my generation onwards are born suicidal. They're suicidal by nature." I said. "Why wouldn't they be? All of this blood and death and disease and war and hate. Who wouldn't want to end it all?"

"You're not too cheerful, are you?" said Cadence. "If that's the case, why don't you all kill yourselves?"

"Panem et circenses. Bread and circuses. We are very easily distracted. Our children are dying? Oh, that's fine, just give us something good to eat. There are wars where innocent men, women and children are inadvertently getting caught in the cross-fire? Doesn't matter, just make sure there's something on T.V. Our whole reality is panem et circenses on a massive scale. Give us a pond of water and we ignore the ocean of blood. But every now and then, because of a loss or a hardship, you start to see the world as it truly is. Cold and bitter and unfair and evil. Then, you think about it. Why are you still here? Most people who ask themselves that have one of two responses. They have someone to protect or someone who loves them."

"Let me guess." said Luna. "You're in the group of protectors?"

"I used to be." I said, chuckling slightly. "Everyone I've had to protect either doesn't need me anymore or are dead. And people who love me are out. All of my former friends hate me. Even my own wife."

"Honey, I don't-" began Fluttershy.

"Don't lie to me. I can see it in your eyes. You've hate what I've become. So does Isaiah. He only wants me alive to ensure the safety of his family."

"That's not true!" he exclaimed. "I only came here to make sure you didn't get yourself killed!"

"Silver Rift, what has happened to you?" asked Celestia. "The Silver I remember was kind and caring. A little rude and very sarcastic, but a good friend nevertheless. What happened?"

"I removed the distractions. Now, I have my goal in mind and not much else: Kill Sombra."

"There is more to life than defeating your enemies." said Luna. "It is about love and friendship."

"I didn't get a chance to meet you before my death, but I take it you weren't always this grim." said Cadence. "Hasn't Pinkie Pie taught you to be a little more cheerful?"

"Listen, I didn't really bring you here for a parent-teacher conference." I said. "I get it. I messed up. I've lost my path or whatever. I'll be sure to rediscover my destiny as soon as Sombra is in the ground."

"What do you intend to do after you have defeated him?" asked Celestia. "You seem to be very short-sighted in this matter."

"After Sombra is dead, I'm going to learn to live with the fact that everyone I know will want nothing to do with me. Then, I'm going to start to drink dangerous amounts of vodka until my ex-friends put me into a rehab program and eventually a mental facility. "

"I think you need to open your eyes, Silver Rift." said Luna. "You claim that your friends and family hate you, despite their constant insistence of the contrary. It's time that you see that things aren't as bad as you would like to believe."

"There are always going to be bad things in life." said Candence. "You shouldn't let those things change who you are or let them influence you to make poor decisions. You may do something you regret."

"I'm not sure you're the best person to be giving this advice, _Princess_ Cadence, considering you committed suicide because of your time of hardship." I said with a smirk. She didn't seem to take kindly to that.

"I didn't have somepony to talk me down like you did. All of my friends and family were dead or thought to be dead at the time."

"Not that this conversation isn't riveting, but why haven't you attacked yet?"

"We've been fighting against Sombra's control. We cannot hold up for much longer." said Luna. "If you truly do intend to stay and fight us, I would recommend you do so now."

"Princesses, I would just like to say that it has been an honor." said Alexandria, bowing her head in respect. "I am sorry I did not have a chance to meet you when you were alive. I could have learned so much from you."

"And we would have been happy to teach you." said Celestia. A ball of yellow light grew in her palm as she slowly lurched forward. "I'm losing control. Please, be quick and end us before we do something awful." I whipped out Lunar and shot at Celestia. She darted to the right, faster than I could see, and threw the ball of light at us. Alexandria jumped forward and extended her palms. A wall of grey light burst from her hands, just in time to block the orb.

BOOM!

The energy ball exploded into a wave of energy, flying off in all directions, completely incinerating everything it touched, including the Princesses. Everything the wave touched burned instantly until nothing remained but ash. The furniture, the walls and ceiling, everything was gone, except for me and my team.

"Nice save, Alexandria." I said. "Is everyone alright?"

"Still got my horn." said Conjure. "And everything else seems fine."

"That attack was devastating." said Fluttershy. "We can't get hit with that."

"Be ready. We haven't much time before the Princesses regenerate." said Alexandria. No sooner did she say that did the ashes start to rise. They formed back into the tall, powerful, intimidating forms of Celestia, Luna and Cadence.

"That spell was designed to combat regeneration spells." said Luna. "As soon as the spell detects a regen spell, it activates again. We only need to be killed seven more times."

"I'm not going to keep you waiting." I said. I drew Celestial and felt the powerful heat grow in it's blade. I willed it forward until it burst into a plume of black fire, unquenchable to all except the caster.

"I wasn't aware you could do that." said Celestia. I reached into the flames and pulled out a blob of fire, which I threw with all my might at Celestia. She flung her hands upwards, summoning a large wall of water to block my flames.

_TSSSSSSSS!_

The water steamed and evaporated as quickly as it appeared as my flames cut right through her defenses. The fire fell through the water and onto Celestia's chest, slowly spreading to her arms and legs despite her attempts to extinguish them.

"Well done, Silver." said Luna. "But now it is my turn." She raised her hands and brought them down like she was dunking a basketball. needles of steel appeared in the middle of the sky and quickly rained down on us. Conjure lept into action, swiping his katanas at supersonic speed. He deflected the rain of shrapnel with one of his blades and stabbed the air with the other. The blade, the hilt and all the way up to his elbow disappeared. I turned to look at Luna and was baffled to see a long, thin katana blade going right through her chest. Conjure yanked his hand back and the blade was dragged out of Luna. When Conjure's hand was completely visible, the blood on the blade and his hands were obvious.

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so quick to tell you to run." said Cadence. She looked down at Celestia's burning body, parts of bone exposed, and at Luna's fallen, formerly impaled body, which was already getting up for round 2.

"Never underestimate the Defenders of Harmony." I said proudly. I fired Lunar quickly at her with such speed and precision that Cadence had no time to react. The bullet hit her right in between her eyes, dropping her to the ground. She jumped back to her hooves and ran at me as the wound closed. She grabbed Lunar and threw it to the side, then gripped my neck, all in one quick move. Fluttershy jumped to my defense and sliced at Cadence's hand. The sword passed through like butter and I dropped to my feet just in time to see Flutters impale the Princess of Love through the chest.

"Six." said Celestia as her skin repaired itself. "Six more, correct?"

"Yes." I said. "Just six. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Don't be too sure of that. I'm about to send out another, much stronger disintegrator spell. This time, Alexandria's wall will not protect you."

A ball of yellow light slowly grew in Celestia's hand. She extended her palm and pushed gently at the ball. It flew right at my face, too fast for me to react. Just when I thought I was a goner, green haze surrounded us. The spell and the Princesses themselves froze in place right in front of my face.

"Told you I could pause time." huffed Conjure. His nose began to slowly trickle blood, obviously a side effect of doing the impossible.

"How long will this hold?" I asked.

"Not long. A few more seconds at most."

"What do we do?" asked Fluttershy. "It's going to explode."

"I have an idea, but you must trust me." said Alexandria. "I need you to return time to normal."

"What are you going to do?" I asked uneasily.

"If I can find the sweet spot of the spell, I can completely undo it. It's like pulling the right string and then your shoelaces just unravel."

"How long will it take you to find the sweet spot?"

"About 3.12 milliseconds."

"How long do we have before the spell hits us?"

"About 3.13 milliseconds." said Conjure. "Which is playing things a bit close to the chest."

"It's the only way. Besides, Conjure's spell is decaying fast. We haven't much time anyway."

"Fine. Be ready." he said. The green haze faded and and time jumped back into place. Alexandria leapt forward and extended her index finger. She hit the center of the ball, sending her finger through it completely and turning the spell into a huff of yellow mist.

"How could you unravel that spell?" asked Celestia. "That should have been impossible."

"I don't like to brag about my abilities, but I'm really, very quite good." said Alexandria. "I can unravel a spell and disable it completely."

"You disabled the spell?" asked Luna.

"Yes. The only way for it to be cast again is if either die or enable it myself." I decided to take the moment of distraction to attack. I rushed forward and stabbed Cadence in the throat. My sword got lodged in her neck, so I pressed Lunar against her chest and fired three times. We only had to kill her once more.

"Hurry, Silver! I'm about to attack!" said Cadence. Her horn began to glow light blue and the floors shook and trembled with the force of a thousand earthquakes. A small quarry of crystals grew out of the ground in front of me. The crystals burst from the ground, rising through the air and growing wider and wider with each second. Millions of tiny needles grew from the sides and were steadily pushing their way towards us.

"What is this?" asked Conjure.

"Those needles are poison." said Cadence, reaching down to pick up her hand. She pressed her hand against her wrist and paused to let it reattach. Alexandria grabbed a crystal needle, broke it away from it's home and threw it at Celestia. Cadence jumped over and caught the needle in her shoulder a mere few inches away from Celestia.

"I don't have much longer." said Cadence. "This poison is very powerful."

"Fluttershy!" cried Luna. She vanished and reappeared behind my wife. Luna kicked her down to the ground and stepped on her throat. I didn't have time to get over there and Lunar hadn't refilled itself yet. There was only one thing I could think to do.

"Hold on!" I shouted. a Rift behind Luna.I snapped my fingers and opened a rift.

_WHOOOOOOSH!_

A powerful wind blew towards the Rift, a wind that was stronger than a hurricane, too powerful to be simply wind. I dropped down and gripped the floor with all my might, fighting against this wind that was pulling me in. The quarry of crystal broke apart and flew over my head and into the Rift. Fluttershy stabbed her sword into the ground and held on for dear life. Alexandria and Conjure tripped forward and hugged the floor.

"I'm slipping!" exclaimed Luna, falling backwards. She fell onto the ground and grabbed Fluttershy's ankle, dragging my wife slowly with her. I fumbled with Lunar and shot at the princess, dropping my gun in the process. The bullet entered Luna's forehead right beneath the horn and she let go of Fluttershy out of agony. She fell backwards into the Rift, screaming the entire time. She passed through the portal, just as Fluttershy lost her grip. I snapped my fingers and closed the Rift just before Fluttershy fell through.

"I can't believe I just did that." I chuckled.

"What exactly happened?" asked Conjure.

"I sent Luna to the moon! That Rift was to the moon!"

"You sent my sister to the moon?" asked Celestia. "Wherever did you get that idea?"

"Silver!" said Cadence. When I looked over to her, I was met with the barrel of my gun.

"I can't summon it." I said, concentrating hard.

"I'm blocking it. I don't have much time before the poison kills me."

"Why haven't you shot yet?" I asked.

"I refuse to kill! Life is too precious!" she said. She pressed the barrel of Lunar against her head and pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed onto the floor right next to Cadence's fallen body.

"I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but I don't think Princess Cadence understood the concept of irony." said Celestia. "It is almost time for me to go. Would you kindly assist me?"


	16. Calling Out Sombra

I walked over to the fallen body of Princess Cadence and retrieved my weapon. I checked it's ammo count and determined I had one shot left. Then, I'd need to wait forty seconds before my ammo would recreate itself. Unless I killed Celestia with my next shot, I wouldn't have time for the ammo to be created.

"I have six more deaths, correct?" asked Celestia.

"Yes." I answered. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's not going to be easy."

"Maybe a little easier than you would think." said Alexandria. "Look at her leg." I looked down at the princesses leg, smirking at the sight of a poison needle. Celestia dropped to one knee sickly, then fell onto her back. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she was dead. For the time being.

"I'm afraid that you still must kill me five more times." said Celestia, rising to her hooves. "Strike swiftly."

"Got anything for me Alexandria?" I asked. "Because I'm fresh out of ideas."

"If I can touch her, I can stop her heart, give her an aneurism, and collapse her lungs, all at once." she answered. Celestia raised her hands and they were enveloped in a yellow aura. Two long, white swords appeared in her hand, each giving off an unnatural glow.

"I'm afraid that will be an issue." she said. The blades grew, formerly five and a half feet in length now growing to be at least seven. She raised them high above her head and swiped down. I jumped out of the way of her new swords, narrowly avoiding her slice. Her blade sliced deep into the ground, leaving twin trenches at least two feet deep in the floor.

"Don't get hit by that." I said. Suddenly, I felt a warm, sticky liquid dripping from my ears. I touched it and my fingers came back red. At that point, it began. Blood poured from my nose, my mouth, even my eyes. I choked and coughed and sputtered on my own blood. This must be what Alexandria felt like. I wiped my face and aimed my gun at Celestia. I fired my last shot into her chest, but she shrugged it off like I pinched her arm.

"Can I ask a favor of you?" pleaded Celestia. "When this is all said and done, can you please retrieve Luna? She deserves a proper burial."

"Of course." said Conjure. "I'll personally get her body and I will make great mausoleums so that nopony will forget you."

"Much appreciated."

Celestia moved like lightning and pressed her sword against my neck. I felt my blood grow hotter and hotter as soon as the blade touched my skin. I felt like I was melting from the inside out. Alexandria jumped to my aid and grabbed the princess' arm. She raised it and pressed her palm against Celestia's heart. A pulse of grey light flew through Celestia's body, followed by another, then another. Celestia stopped breathing and fell to the floor, down to her last life.

"Don't kill her just yet." I said, as Alexandria was going to finish the job. "I need to ask her something."

"Speak quickly, Silver Rift." said Celestia. "It's taking all of my willpower to stay on the ground."

"What do you know about Black Aura?" I asked. At the mention of the name, she began to chuckle.

"Black Aura?" she snickered. "Now that is a magic I have not seen in a long time."

"What is it?"

"Death energy. The remnants of a person's Shine. Whenever someone dies, their Shine burns out. Black Aura is the ash."

"What does it do?"

"In normal amounts, nothing. It's like background radiation. Doesn't help, doesn't hinder."

"But in excessive amounts?" I asked.

"The Shine is the largest, most powerful source of magic in the natural universe. Even the weakest unicorn's Shine could, if tapped, destroy the whole of the multiverse. Black Aura is stronger than that." she said.

"Could it grant knowledge of everything?"

"In theory."

"Can it allow someone to move between life and death?"

"You are asking all of the wrong questions. Let's assume for a moment that it could." said Celestia. "I said earlier that in normal amounts, this death energy had no effect on anypony."

"So?"

"What would it mean to be exposed to excessive amounts of it?"

"Lots of death in his life. But that doesn't matter. I need to know if it would allow him to move between here and the Spirit World."

"It is… possible." said Celestia uneasily. "Why does this matter?"

"I have one last question." I said, ignoring the question. "My friend War has died. I've been talking to him lately and he said that I will die next time I see him. Then he said that he'd see me soon."

"What's your question?"

"How do I prevent it? How can I survive?"

"You misunderstood him." she said. "He didn't mean that you're about to die. You're already dying."

"What?"

"You haven't much longer. You're dying and there's only one way to stop it."

"How? How can I avoid death?"

"You just have to l- AH!" she cried. Her sclera slowly faded to black, a sign that her mind was gone. I grabbed her magic blade and stabbed her through the chest. Blood began to pour from her eyes, ears, nose and mouth, a sick fountain of red. I felt glad that she didn't have to live anymore. Her blades faded away into nothingness, leaving a glowing warmth in my hands.

"That was bad." I said. "Conjure, can you make sure I'm not going to bleed out?"

"You're fine." he said. "I scanned you as soon as it happened. I've already healed you to the best of my abilities."

"Thanks. Let's get down to business."

"The Princesses are vanquished." said Alexandria. "I say we should capture Alex next, then we can take down Sombra."

"Seems good. How are we going to get this done?"

"The only way I can think of is to split them up." said Fluttershy. "Get Sombra to send his little pet on an errand. That's when we nab here."

"I like it. But that brings up a few new problems." I said. "At this point, I don't think Sombra is going to let her out of his sight. We've taken down all of his best troops. Ivan, Shimmer, the Jacksons, the Princesses. If we could handle his most powerful and mind-screwing forces, I don't think he's going to send his favorite servant."

"I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped calling her a pet or a servant." said Alexandria. "She is not an animal. She is just as much of a person as you."

"Alexandria could hijack her again." suggested Conjure.

"Nope. She'll be able to detect me before I could even enter her mind."

"Okay." I said. "Here's a wild idea: Let's call Discord for help."

"That won't work either." said Alexandria. "When we had our tea, he said he was going back to observe the battle from his realm. And now that Sombra lost Celestia and Luna, he'll have no reason to be here."

"Still no plan." I said angrily. "We need someone creative and crazy enough to figure this out!"

"What about the kids?" asked Fluttershy.

"What did you say?"

"What about… the kids?" she tried again.

"Oh! That is brilliant! The kids! We can go get them and ask for help!" I exclaimed. "I'm sure that if I show them how much we've done that they won't try to kill me again!" I felt on top of the world. I had an idea that may actually work for a change. Or so I thought.

"Do you feel that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Feel what?" I asked.

"It's almost like someone is opening a Rift." she said. No sooner did she say that did a portal of silver energy appear right before us. Out of the Rift tripped Rarity, her mane coated with ash and soot, her face slightly singed. The Rift collapsed behind her as she fell to the ground, choking and out of breath.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"Smoke inhalation." said Alexandria, her horn glowing grey. "Amongst other things." She pressed her palm against her mother's chest and inhaled deeply. Rarity coughed hard, sending a cloud of dust and ash flying from her mouth. Rarity sucked in a huge breath and began to cry softly.

"Rarity! What happened?" asked Conjure.

"We were bombed!" she sobbed. "Ponyville was bombed! The bunkers couldn't protect us all. 200,000 are dead."

"Anyone we know?" I asked in fear.

"Cheerilee, Big Mac, the Cake Twins." she said, getting to her hooves. "There's more, but those are some names that I caught."

"What about our families?" asked Fluttershy.

"I think they're okay. We agreed that we would escape and help defeat the changelings. We were just about to leave when the bombs dropped. Marceline and Spencer told me to find you, then come back to help, but the Rift closed."

"They might be dead." I said quietly. "And I sent them there. I could have sent all of you to your deaths."

"You mustn't think like that, darling."

"I'm sick and tired of people saying it's not my fault when it clearly is! None of this would have happened if I would've just killed Sombra all those years ago! But no! I was too stupid, too naive! I thought there was a better way, that there was always a better way!"

"Silver… " said Conjure.

"You shut the hell up! Shut up! Everytime I talk to you, you bring up some good memory from back in the day, something that makes me feel like this can go back to normal. Nothing will be the same after this!"

"Baby…" began Fluttershy.

"Enough with the 'baby' shit!" I shouted. "You don't love me! You don't give a damn about me! I think my mom was right about that part! You only said yes to spare my feelings! You'd rather be with someone else, right?"

"No! Of course not!"

"All of you would be better off without me! Why have you kept me around when all I do is screw up and put you in danger?"

"Because you are our friend, Silver." said Rarity. "We've been through quite a lot together."

"You were only friends with me because if you didn't, we'd both die." I said.

"Yeah, but we weren't alive until we met you." said Conjure.

"Enough with this whole 'living isn't being alive' bullshit! Stop giving me riddles and fortune cookie advice!"

"Silver, you are completely correct." said Rarity. "We did become friends because the fate of our worlds hung in the balance. But that is not a bad thing. That made our friendship even stronger. We can withstand any punishment, so long as we band together."

"But what if we can't?" I asked. "What if we're just not strong enough?"

"Then we were never truly friends." I looked at her and finally processed all the emotions I've been experiencing since War died. Rage and depression were given, but there was something else beneath that.

"I'm scared, Rarity." I said. "I'm so scared."

"We're all scared, darling. Sometimes you have to take your fear and push it to the side to be brave."

"I'm too afraid."

"Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is living with your fear and not letting it hold you back. Everypony gets scared, Silver. Not everypony can be brave like you."

"Rarity? I'm going to give you something. Something that I've only ever given to two people, and they were both unintentional." I said. I grabbed Rarity's hand and felt the energy flow through my arm.

"What are you giving me?" she asked.

"Control over Rifts. I want you to take this power and go find my kids. Please, get them to safety."

"Of course, darling." she said. She gripped the air firmly, then looked at me for direction. "How does this work?"

"Concentrate on where you want to go. You must be completely focused and you have to really want to go. Then, imagine yourself opening a curtain to your destination. Finally, you yank as hard as you can."

"I promise you that I will find everypony and deliver them to safety." she said, gripping the air. She slowly dragged open a Rift, surely amazed at how much energy it took to do so.

"Don't go overboard with that." I said. "Opening the Rifts can be a huge strain on you."

"Of course. I will be on my way now. Please promise me that you will take it easy."

"Just get everyone to safety." I said. She nodded and stepped through the Rift, closing it slowly behind her.

"What now?" asked Conjure.

"Let's think." I sighed. "We can't take them together, but we can't separate them either."

"It's going to be nearly impossible to kill Sombra during battle, so we'd have to confine him in a cage or something similar." said Alexandria.

"So, we need to set a trap?" I asked. "That's a first. We normally run into traps."

"Once we trap Sombra, we try to subdue Alex." said Conjure. "We get her magic retrained and cart her off to the most maximum security prison I haven't built yet."

"When we get her in chains, then we execute Sombra." added Fluttershy.

"And then we all live happily ever after." I said. "But now we have the issue of luring Sombra into said trap. How are we going to pull that off?"

"I can send a transmission through Alex." said Alexandria. "If we can get both Lord Sombra and Alex upset, they will come to us."

"I like it. Get on it." I said. "Let me do the talking. My special talent could be sarcasm and pushing people's buttons."

"Give me one moment." said Alexandria. She dropped onto her butt and closed her eyes. Grey light enveloped her horn and a beam of light flew onto the floor. A short moment later, the end of the beam morphed into the full sized images of Sombra and Alex.

"I should have known that it was all a ruse." he growled. "You fooled my servant and used her to defeat my best soldiers. I will have to punish her for that later."

"Lord Sombra, please do not punish her for what I've done." said Alexandria. "It isn't her fault."

"Shut up for a second." said Alex. "Do not taint the name of my master. If you are going to address him by name, you will kneel before him and submit to his power."

"What did you intend to accomplish by bombing my home?" I asked.

"I was hoping you'd all perish. It would seem that you escaped." said Sombra.

"We weren't there. Our kids, however, were." I said. "They're safe now. But I didn't call you to talk about my kids. I came to ask you something."

"Ask me a question? Like what?"

"Why do you do the things that you do?" I asked. "Every villain has an emotionally scarring backstory, so what's yours?"

"I have my reasons." he growled.

"Of course you do. Just tell me what they are. Is it because you just got old and bitter? Did Celestia bully you in highschool?"

"When I was in my prime, I could have Celestia shaking in her boots and running in fear."

"Yeah, but your 'prime' has passed quite along time ago. You dodged my question yet again. What got your panties in a bunch like this?"

"Do not disrespect my master!" shouted Alex. "I will shred you!"

"Are you mad, dear Alex? Why are you so defensive of him? Is it because he's your father? Or maybe because he's your daddy? I mean in the bedroom, of course." I said. Alex's face burned red as a tomato out of both embarrassment and rage.

"Shut the hell up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she said angrily. "I will rip you apart and feast on your bones!"

"Keep your trophy wife on a leash, Sombra." I shot. Alex's mane frizzed up, way bigger and wilder than I'd ever seen.

"Calm down, Alex." said Sombra. "We will slay them together."

"Then come do it. Stop hiding in the shadows and come for us!" I said. "I've got nothing left to lose! Next time we meet, one of us will die and I don't really care who it is anymore! So why don't you regrow your twelve-millennia old balls and come fight me like the man you wish you could be."

"You dare insult me? I am more of a man than you ever were!" he growled.

"But you'll never be half the man your mom was. But if you want to prove me wrong, I'm at Canterlot Castle. Come find me."

"Alex! Disconnect the transmission!" he shouted. "Silver Rift, I have a special torture awaiting you. I will be administering it soon." The image fizzled and faded, leaving a faint grey smoke in its place. I looked at Conjure, who had summoned two dozen foot long harpoons, each of which attached to a thick length of rope.

"You and Fluttershy go to the basement." he directed. "You're going to see a bunch of green circles. Push one in each circle, rope-side first. Then, hurry back up here. Alexandria, you stay here and help me with the spells."

"Of course." said Alexandria. I grabbed half of the harpoons while Fluttershy grabbed the other 12. We walked in silence out of the throne room and own the stairs to the basement. Scattered across the floor were green rings. I pushed the first harpoon in all the way to the sharp tip, rope and shaft completely submerged.

"What next?" asked Fluttershy, pushing one of her harpoons into a different circle.

"We execute Sombra." I answered.

"That's not what I meant. I meant between us."

"I'm afraid I don't follow." I said, shoving harpoon after harpoon down.

"What's going to happen between us? Are you going to try to make an effort? Or are you just going to give up and leave?"

"Fluttershy, you should know by now that I love you with all of my heart. I would gladly give up anything to make you happy. The question is: are you happy?"

"Yes. I've never been happier than when we were together."

"Are you sure?"

`"Yes! I'm absolutely positive! I don't want to live without you!"

"Then, maybe, we can figure something out. I'm still not sure how much I believe you, but if you are lying that means you care about my feelings, so that's something."

"Are we really having a talk about our relationship while we're setting up a trap to kill our worst enemy?" she asked.

"That is so us." I chuckled. "Just like the good old days of you breaking limbs and ruining my self-esteem."

"I remember the day we first kissed. I remember thinking 'Dear Celestia! If this is a dream, don't ever wake me up.'. Then I sort of threatened you not to tell anypony."

"During the first war, if you would've told me that in twenty years I'd be looking back on it and laughing, I'd have said you were crazy." I said. "Now, you have no clue how much I wish that this was like last time. It was so much simpler. A lot lower risk. And War was still alive."

"I miss him too." she said, pushing in her last harpoon. I'm really worried about Pinkie and Storm. I know Storm was banking on her Sight to talk to him."

"She'll be fine. It's me you should be worrying about."

"Why is that?"

"I'm going to die. I know you think I'm crazy, but War told me I would die soon. I think it's going to be here, today."

"Then I will be right there next to you." she said. "I will personally butcher anypony who tries to hurt you." Her words made me smile for the first time in a few days.

"You are the single greatest mare I've ever met." I said. "Come on. Let's kill Sombra."


	17. Dropping Gods

I flew from the platform that used to be Canterlot Castle's throne room and soared high into the air. I watched from my cozy height as Fluttershy and Alexandria rushed through the city below. I flipped the microphone Conjure had given me over and over in my hands. Everything was going according to plan. Suddenly, there was a large explosion that shook the earth, a rumbling boom coming from the north. A large plume of black smoke billowed from that direction and it was slowly growing and advancing.

"Come on, Sombra!" I said into the mic. My voice echoed from every direction, making it nearly impossible to pinpoint. "I thought you came here to fight, not play with matches!" I floated down a little and raised my hands high above my head and opened a huge Rift, the largest one I'd ever made. It stretched far further than my arms could reach, so large that anyone on the ground could see it. Especially Sombra.

"You've got balls showing up here, I'll give you that!" I taunted. "You've waited about two decades to kill us, so why keep us waiting any longer?"

"Silver!" called Conjure from the platform. "Get down here! It's time!" I floated down and landed next to my friend. He sliced a small line into the ground as a marker of where we'd need Sombra to be. When we got to that point, I'd just have to survive and keep him talking. Shouldn't be too hard to do that second thing.

"He's sure to be coming now." I said. "Just make sure your spells are ready and in place."

"I'm ready. You got your sword?" he asked. I drew Celestial and gave it a few practice slices through the air. I was ready to get this over with.

"Can I ask a favor?" I asked. "I need something."

"Please don't ask for vodka." he said.

"Just a little?" I begged. He looked at me in disbelief, then snapped his fingers. A small flask that held no more than four ounces appeared in my hands. I popped open the top and drained it in one quick gulp.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much."

"How disrespectful. Having a drink without offering any to an old friend?" growled Sombra. He walked through the doorway wielding his black sword of Oblivion Iron. His grey armor was chipped and battle-worn, but still had a certain shine to it. He stepped across the platform and stopped about half a foot away from our mark.

"He finally arrives." I said.

"Lord Sombra, King of Shadows. Feel free to bow, quick as you'd like." he growled. And, of course, I'm standing in the presence of Silver Rift. I take it you're not going to go down easy?"

"Where's Alex?" I asked.

"My servant? Down in the streets below, killing off any survivors she may encounter. Where are your pets?"

"You mean my friends?" I asked. "They're out killing off your army. Oh, and you're completely correct. I'm not taking my death lying down."

"Why must you give me so much trouble?" asked Sombra. "It's time you met your maker."

"I'm prepared to meet my maker. Whether or not my maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another question entirely."

"Are we really doing this?" asked Sombra, stepping to the left. He hadn't noticed the trap mark, but he was doing a really good job of avoiding it. "I'm about to kill you and we're trading witty banter."

"Some things never change." said Conjure. He stepped forward and drew his katanas, just as we planned. I extended my arm to block him and stepped forward myself..

"Stay back." I said. "Sombra is mine."

"Noble. And brave." said Sombra. "Not to mention stupid."

"Enough talk, King Sombra. It's time for you to fall." I said. I jumped forward and jabbed at Sombra's chest. He blocked it with the flat of his sword and kicked at my gut. I took the blow and sliced at his ankle. His leg passed right through my sword, leaving the steel of my weapon faintly smoking.

"When did you regain that ability?" I asked, jumping back to avoid his strike. He was pushing me back, the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. I wouldn't be able to last too long at this rate.

"I never fully lost it." he said. "I can do my smoke transmutation for short periods." He swung his blade right at my chest, which I blocked, crossing our swords diagonally. I pushed at his sword, causing him to go back a few steps. He pushed at me and I pushed back. I had to stall for time until I could wear him down.

"What do you intend to do if you beat me here?" I asked.

"_When_ I beat you, I will move on to slaughter your friends and your family." he said. "And I will defeat you. You are about to fall to my blade!"

"Sounding quite positive of yourself, Sombra." I said, feeling a great heat building in my sword. It was unnatural and unfamiliar, not like when I summoned fire to Celestial. This was a magical heat that burned in my blood. I'd felt this before, just once, during a battle against Celestia.

"Of course I'm sure of myself! You seem to forget who I am!" spat Sombra. "I am a god! You will fall before me!"

"Or maybe it is _you_ who will fall to me!" I shouted back. Celestial was surrounded and a bright, white light and extended and grew to about 6 feet in length. Celestial burned with heat and energy and a sort of vibration. Like it was alive.

"So you finally discovered the latent potential of my blade?" said Sombra in annoyance.

"Your blade?" I asked.

"I made Celestial and Lunar. When Celestia defeated me, she took them from me. What? You thought she made these herself?"

"Well. I did, up until you started calling it 'your blade'." I said. I pushed Celestial against Sombra's blade and felt it cutting through. My blade slowly but surely cut through his Oblivion Iron.

"How are you so powerful?" he asked angrily.

"Humans have magic more powerful than any natural unicorn. Most humans can't access that magic. I can." I said, my blade cutting about halfway through Sombra's sword.

"That's not what I meant! You are not the first child of prophecy! I've fought and slaughtered many humans before you! What makes you so different?"

"I don't know, Sombra." I said. I was almost as shocked as he was at the words that had left my mouth. "Wasn't expecting that, were you? Well, that's the truth. I don't know. I'm just an average guy who bit off more than he could chew. But I'll tell you what. I may just be a normal guy, but sometimes all it takes is a normal guy to change the world!"

Celestial sliced through Sombra's sword, sending the sharp half of the blade flying into the air. I snatched it out of the air and buried it in Sombra's chest. He stumbled backwards in pain, just a step in front of the trap mark. I shoved Celestial's long, glowing blade into Sombra's throat, a deep, growling scream escaping his lungs. Blood began to flow from his eyes and ears, while a strange black ooze gushed from his nose and mouth. He gagged on coughed, falling back onto the mark in the ground.

"Now!" shouted Conjure. His horn began to glow green and Sombra's ankles were surrounded on all sides by two dozen emerald rings, each tilted at a slight angle. Sharp harpoons flew upwards and out of the rings, impaling Sombra's arms, legs, and gut. His arms were pinned spread-eagle. The harpoons and their ropes tied Sombra in place as a final one fell from the sky, coming from behind, stabbing Sombra in the back and raising him off of his hooves.

"What have you done?" he asked, groaning in pain.

"A crucifixion worthy of a god." said Conjure. "Based off of history, I thought you'd appreciate the irony."

"King Sombra, Lord of Shadows." I said, stepping forward. I took Celestial's glowing tip and slowly pushed it into Sombra's midsection, his screams of pain echoing in my head. "16,000 years alive and it all comes to an end on this day."

"But can you really do it?" asked Sombra. "Could you really kill me?"

"I've ended many lives, Sombra. One more death won't be too heavy on my conscious."

"But you could justify those." he growled. "It was them or you, or you didn't realise what was happening, that it was just instinct. You don't have to kill me, but you're going to anyway. How are you going to justify this?"

"By remembering that you've killed more people than the Black Death. You've killed my people, my country, my friends."

"Is that really why you fight? To avenge his death? Or is there some other reason?"

"Alexandria." I said. "She's the only other reason."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Throughout this entire war, you know how many people Alexandria has killed? A total of zero. She has liberated the souls of reincarnated changelings, but she hasn't killed anypony. She has had but one goal since she arrived. She just wants to save her friend and I'm going to make sure she succeeds."

"But why do you care so much about her?" he asked.

"Because she didn't ask for this. This is what she was created for."

"Hm. You and I are not so different, Silver Rift."

"Silver." said Conjure. "It's time to end this."

"Yes." I said, removing Celestial and pressing it against the left of Sombra's neck. I tilted my head for Conjure to join me. He grasped the hilt of the sword and looked at me for confirmation. A black, semi-transparent hand grasped the sword and gripped. I took one look and knew it was time.

"I'm ready, War." I said. War shot me a smile and nodded.

"You cannot kill me here!" shouted Sombra. "I am a god! I will smite you and destroy everything you've ever loved! I cannot die here!"

"Life is one big, long story." said Conjure.

"Your story has gone on for just a few too many chapters." I chimed.

"Time to write your epilogue." said War. We quickly swiped my blade to the right, Sombra screaming as Celestial cut through his neck. His head fell to the ground, showering me and Conjure with blood. I grabbed his horn and raised my trophy high above my head. Blood dripped from his severed neck and onto the floor as his body slumped.

"The King of Shadows is dead." I said. "We won!"

"We did it." said Conjure. That's when reality sank in.

"I have to go, right?" I asked War. "It's time for me to die."

"Well…" he began.

"Wait! I have to go make sure that Flutters and Alexandria are okay!" I said. I flapped my wings and rose into the air.

""Silver!" called War.

"I'm not running! I just have to makes sure they're safe! As soon as they're safe, I'll go with you." I shouted back. I flew through the air and down onto the streets below, Sombra's head still in my hand. In retrospect, I probably should have put it down before I left. I didn't have much choice if I wanted to get out before I died. I had to make sure they were okay. I was probably overreacting. They were okay, they just had to be.

"Or not." I muttered to myself, spotting the skirmish below. Fluttershy was on the ground, hopefully unconscious, while Alexandria was standing about a yard away from her twin, who was twirling her scythe in impatience. They seemed to be arguing. I flew behind Alex and landed softly behind her, not disrupting the apparent debate.

"Please, stop this!" begged Alexandria. "This has gone on for far too long!"

"We've been over this. You will bow before Lord Sombra or you shall die." responded Alex.

"Give it up, Alex." I said.

"You've escaped from Lord Sombra? He will reward me for bringing him your head." she said, turning around. She caught sight of Sombra's head and shrieked in horror.

"I'm sorry, Alex, but I'm the one who's delivering heads." I said. "It's time you surrendered. I'm sorry things went like this, but I had no other choice."

"You killed him!" she shouted, tears breaking from her good eye. "But, no! He can't be! My master can never die!"

"He can and he has. Lower your weapon and we can figure out what to do next."

"I can revive him! Just like before, I can bring him back."

"No. He's dead. You can't resurrect him."

"I've done it before and I'll do it again!"

"No you didn't." I answered. "Even when you brought him back before, he wasn't dead. His spirit was just living inside of your body, waiting for Alexandria's spell to give it a physical body. There is no bringing him back. He's honestly, hand-to-Celestia dead."

"No! He can't be!" she sobbed, dropping to her knees. I lowered Sombra's head onto the floor and stepped forward. I extended my right hand and grasped her shoulder. I was just about to tell her that everything would be okay when she snapped. She gripped her scythe and swung viciously at my arm. The sharp, black blade dug into my arm, just at the bend of my elbow. I screamed in pain as the blade cut through my arm, slicing through muscle and bone. Blood spewed from my wound, the place where my forearm used to be. That's when I remembered War's words.

"I hope you aren't right handed." said Alex. "Not like it matters. The arm was just the beginning. I'm going to rip you apart, piece by piece, as slowly and painfully as possible."

"Alex! No!" cried Alexandria. She rushed to my aid and pulled Alex back a yard or two. Alex's horns grew from her head and began to glow red. Using my left hand, I grabbed Lunar off of my hip and aimed right at Alex's heart. Alexandria caught sight and pushed Alex out of the way, just as I pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

My bullet entered Alexandria chest, spraying blood outwards. She looked down at her wound and fell to the ground. I dropped Lunar and rushed past Alex to check on her.

"You killed her!" shouted Alex. "You killed Alexandria!"

"Alex, I'm sorry." I said. I was getting a little dizzy from the blood loss and it was becoming difficult to string together a sentence.

"You're about to be." Alex grabbed Lunar off of the ground and aimed it at me. Tears were pouring out of her eye and her hands shook uncontrollably.

"Alex." I said, raising my hand slowly in surrender. "Put the gun down."

"All of my friends are dead and it's all your fault! Lord Sombra, War, Alexandria! All your fault!" she shouted.

"I'll take full responsibility for Sombra and Alexandria, but War's death was your doing. You can't blame me for that." I said.

"You could've surrendered! Or you could've ran! If you would've given up, Lord Sombra wouldn't have had to kill any of you."

"So, what now? You're going to kill me with my own gun?"

"No. You don't deserve death. You deserve pain. You claim that Lord Sombra was evil, that he was the monster, but look at you. At least Lord Sombra was honest. If he was going to kill you, he'd let you know! You live your life putting people under the guise that they're safe or that you can be trusted, and as soon as they need you, you leave them for dead."

"Alex, it's not like that." I said, gripping my stump, a futile effort to stop the blood.

"Yes it is. You're such a good liar that you convinced yourself that you're the good guy." she said. "You didn't deserve to know Alexandria and she didn't deserve to die. But you deserve this." She took the gun and placed the barrel against the roof of her mouth.

"Alex, no!"

"You did this. Remember that, Silver Rift."

BOOM!

Alex's lifeless body fell to the floor, blood pooling around her. She twitched once and fell completely still. Alexandria gasped deeply and jerked awake. She looked around in pain and confusion and she kept absentmindedly grasping the top of her head.

"Is Alex okay?" she asked panickedly. Her eyes fell upon Alex and tears began to fill them. "No! No! Who did this?"

"She did." I said quietly. "She thought you were dead so she shot herself."

"No! I fainted when I saw my blood!" sobbed Alexandria. "H-how could she be so dumb?! Why didn't she check!"

"Alexandria, I'm so sorry."

"I'm sure you are!" said Alexandria, a new tone in her voice. A tone I'd never heard in her before. Rage. "You're always sorry! It's never your fault, is it?"

"This wasn't my fault. I couldn't stop her."

"Why did you shoot in the first place?"

"She was going to kill me."

"Then you should have died!" yelled Alexandria, rising to her hooves. "Better than to live with the death of an innocent on your hands!"

"She was far from innocent." I remarked.

"She was far from in control of her actions! She was just doing what she was meant to do and she died because of it! You know what? You and Sombra aren't all that different. You have your mindless armies and your perfect, brainwashed little slaves! But now, I see what you really are! You are evil and manipulative! You will kill of anyone to meet your own ends!"

"Look, if I could take it back, I would, but I can't! What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"I want you to take note of what I'm about to say, for it may one day save your life." she said. "I'm taking Alex's body away. I'm leaving, going far, far away from here. But I will be watching you. I will watch your every move, Silver Rift, and if there is one more conflict, one more battle, I will erase it all and start anew."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Today will become a day of remembrance. This will be a day for sons the remember the sins of their fathers, for brothers to remember the sins of their brothers, and for all of you to remember Alex. You will remember her. You will erect statues anywhere you can in her honor. There will be temples and mausoleums and memorials. Everyone will know of Alex the Great until she becomes a legend, or I will destroy you and your people to start fresh, a new world of peace, harmony and order."

"You couldn't do it." I said. "You couldn't kill us all."

"One human has sinned enough so that the Laws of Karma will forgive me for killing them all. I promise you. You will remember or you will die."

"Threats of an armageddon?" I asked. "What does this make you? My enemy?"

"No. It makes me your god. And there's one more thing you have to do to ensure the safety of your people." she said.

"What's that?"

"Pray." she grabbed Alex and hefted her over her shoulder. Alexandria's wispy, gaseous angel wings melted out of her back. She flapped hard and rose into the air, fading slightly from view. They rose and rose, disappearing completely after a short while.

"What a drama queen." said War. He stepped from behind me and grasped my bleeding stump. The blood slowed and eventually stopped, leaving me a clean amputee.

"Okay. I know you said next time you see me, I'd die, and I'm ready for it." I said. "But not until you answer some questions. You see, I thought we were friends. Friends trust each other. But you don't trust me. You don't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Tell me what exactly happened to you and what you're doing!"

"45 years ago, Alisa Thompson was abducted by Ivan Azarov. Ivan took her back to his hideout and went about his normal routine of torturing and rape." he explained. "He held her captive for a week. He was about to kill her, when he stopped. Alisa begged for her life and she was spared. It was thought that she was spared because she couldn't have children, and could therefore be raped repeatedly without much consequence. Every day, Alisa was nearly drowned on the blood, limbs and internal organs of dead or dying captives. A years and four months after her capture, Alisa contacted the police, who found and incarcerated Ivan. She then was taken to America via the witness protection program. The Russian government supplied her with a home, an alias, and a cover story. Anything she could've needed to stay in hiding. Little did the government know, she was pregnant."

"But I thought she couldn't have children." I said confusedly. Where was this story going.

"She couldn't. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer at a very young age. She gave birth, put the baby on the steps of an orphanage, and fled back to Russia, where she was checked into a mental institution, where she remains to this day. Alisa left nothing with her newborn son except a note with the words "Robert Thompson" on it. Two years later, he was adopted."

"But that doesn't explain what you are."

"Robert grew up, made friends, fought in a war, got married, had kids, fought in another war and died. That's where I come in. I'm what's left of War's soul. I was exposed to Black Aura before I was born, in excessive amounts, from Ivan's victims."

"This is all stuff I know already." I said impatiently. "You're still not explaining."

"I thought it was obvious. It was all me." he said. Catching my look of confusion, he explained. "Ivan sparing Alisa, your dad killing himself, all of that was me."

"I still don't get it."

"Ivan was going to kill Alisa, but I stopped him. I whispered words of compassion and mercy directly into his mind. Then, I went to your father. Don't get me wrong, he was nuts. He would've done it anyway. I just persuaded him to move a little quicker. I made your mother resent you so that all the pieces fall into place."

"What? You're the reason my mother disowned me?"

"Yes. It had to happen."

"Why? And how?"

"Let's say this is the timeline." he said, drawing an invisible line in the air. A thick, black horizontal line appeared in the air, right where he traced. "On it's own, time will bend and fold, eventually collapsing onto itself." The line bent over and wriggled all over.

"Certain events, known as Anchored Moments, keep time in order. There are a few Anchored Moments, like the creation of the Earth, certain major historical events and… us. We keep time anchored down the way it should be." Several red dots appeared on the black line, straightening it out. "Anchored Moments always happen, regardless of time alterations."

"Time alterations?" I asked. "But no one can alter time."

"That is not true. Time can be rewritten. In fact, it's rewritten every day."

"So you rewrote time? Why?" I asked. This story wasn't making sense.

"To create us. I manipulated our past to make sure our future happened the way it should. I had to make sure all the major events of our lives happened properly, or else the whole of the multiverse would be at stake."

"If you're War's soul, how did you know to go back and put everything in place? How does that work? If you're dead, but you caused your death, after your death, and the only way you'd die or have existed in the first place is if you made it so… wouldn't that create…"

"A paradox, as I said before. For every decision made, a new universe is created in which you do the other choice. That's how we have multiple universes. All the universes in the multiverse originate from one core universe. Choices were made, universes were fractured, and our worlds have evolved into what they are today. There was originally only a few universes where I died, but the me from those universes went through and caused me to die. This was the last universe, so I just have to makes sure I died when I'm supposed to."

"So, you've been manipulating us from the beginning?" I asked angrily.

"I had to. If your dad would've lived, your mom would've been happy, and if she was happy, you'd be happy. If you were happy, we wouldn't have become friends, wouldn't have been transported to Equestria, and we never would've beaten Sombra. If he won, he would've destroyed the entire multiverse." said War.

"And it all leads up to this, right?" I asked. "For you to kill me?"

"I'm not going to kill you." he said.

"But I'm going to die, right?"

"Silver Rift is already dead."

"No, I'm not."

"You're not, but he is." said War knowingly.

"Don't be an idiot. Are you implying that I'm not Silver Rift?" I asked. His riddles were starting to make me angry.

"Exactly."

"Then who am I, if I'm not Silver Rift?"

"Good question. Christian Brookes died with War, and Silver Rift died with Alex, so who does that make you?" he asked. "Silver made a lot of mistakes, but you're not him. You can fix his blunders, succeed where he failed."

"I'm a clean slate." I said, finally understanding. "I don't have to let what I've done in the past dictate who I am. I can look back and better myself. That's what Celestia was going to say."

"Learn from your past, and use the knowledge to brighten your future." said War. "You got it."

"So, I'm not going to actually die?"

"No. Just a metaphor."

"You never miss a chance to screw with my head." I said, laughing slightly.

"I never change. Speaking of change, she will." he said. "Alex is going to change for the better. I have her here." Slowly, Alex faded into view, both eyes in perfect condition. She was in handcuffs and kept her distance from War.

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" she asked. "Is this revenge for me killing you?"

"I'm not that petty. I just brought you here so Silver could say goodbye."

"Alex, I'm sorry." I said. "You didn't deserve that."

"How does it feel to be just as bad as my master?" she asked. "You've finally sunken to his level. You've killed an innocent just to get to your enemy."

"Only I didn't. Alexandria is still alive. And she is furious that you're dead."

"Don't lie to me, Silver Rift. She can't be alive."

"That's all the time we have." said War. "I have to go. I have the Spirit World to manage. They made me leader, you know."

"Will I see you again?"

"No. This is my last trip to the Physical Plane, and Storm won't be able to see me. My Black Aura sort of blinds her Sight."

"So, this is goodbye." I said. I balled up my fist and extended it forward. He bumped my fist with his knuckles and began to fade, both him and Alex. Alex shot me one last look of anger and hatred before they were faded completely. I lifted my wife's unconscious body from the ground and rose into the air. I turned to face Canterlot Castle and slowly trudged through the air. There was one thing I didn't ask War, because I was afraid of the answer. It scared me because I didn't know what to do with the answer when I got it. I wasn't even sure it mattered at this point.

"Only I could see him." I muttered to myself. "Does that mean I'm crazy? Was it real, or all inside my head?" I looked to my right, at a cloud that had drifted towards me. A face melted out of surface of the cloud, a familiar face.

"Both." said War, his cloudy face winking at me. His face faded back into the cloud, leaving me completely alone with my thoughts.

"If I'm not crazy now, I will be soon." I said. "I never did well at funerals."

The Jacksons, Ivan, my mom, Conjure's uncle, War, Alicia, the Crystal Empire, Ponyville, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Cheerilee, Big Macintosh, Pound and Pumpkin, Alex. I had an awful lot of funerals to arrange.


	18. Sombra's Gift

_Alexandria_

I floated into the air, leaving Silver Rift on the ground below. Perhaps I shouldn't have yelled at him so harshly, but he had it coming. I flew through the sky with Alex in tow, fading into the sky. I shut my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, I was in a new place. There was nothing but white, a blank platform that went on for what seemed like ages. In the center was a small lake of the clearest water. My Seeing Pond. I laid Alex's body down in front of it, then set to work on making this realm my home. I placed my palms upon the floor and willed my horn to glow. I gripped and raised my hands, pulling up a large, black casket. The entire lid was encrusted with rubies and emeralds. There were carvings all along the side, carvings that said "Alex" in a multitude of languages, Greek and Latin and Spanish and Russian. Languages lost to history, languages that don't exist. I opened it and slowly lifted Alex into the casket. Poor soul. Her eyes were still open. I reached forward and shut her eyelids, putting her to sleep. I closed the casket and bit my thumb with all my might. Blood began to flow from my thumb, which I used to draw an alchemy circle on Alex's sarcophagus. I snapped my fingers, burning the circle black, then white, then black again. A huge square of solid gold rose from the ground, surrounding her casket. Another square rose on top of that one, then another on top of that, and another. I walked to the nearest wall and drew a rectangle onto it with my blood. The section of gold fell forward, creating an exit from the Golden Pyramid. The final resting place of Alex the Great. I snapped my fingers and summoned a large bed, right next to the Pyramid. I sat down and instantly felt sleepy. It was time to rest before I began my watch.

* * *

I rose from my bed with a strange nausea in my stomach. I ignored it, as I had more important things to do. I took a handful of gems from off of my bedside table and summoned a dish of cinnamon. I trotted over to Alex's Pyramid and bowed my head before entering. I walked to her casket in the middle of the Pyramid and kneeled carefully. Careful as to not knock over my other offerings, I made a small circle of gems. In the center, I placed the dish of cinnamon. I summoned a match and swiped it against my horn, setting it aflame. I dropped the match onto the cinnamon, igniting and burning it, filling the air with a spicy smell.

"Hello, Alex." I said. "It's been awhile since I last talked to you. I was tied up yesterday. It's been three weeks since your… passing. Silver Rift listened to me. There's a statue of Alex the Great at every Rift Metro terminal, and more are on their way. Are you happy? Didn't you want to be a legend? Well, I made sure you are. They won't forget you."

Her silence was hard to hear. I never thought there'd be a day where Alex didn't assault me in some way, whether it be physical, verbal or mental. To say I missed her would be an understatement. My best friend was gone and it was getting hard to live with. Even my mind felt empty without the psychic link. I felt like I was missing something. And I was. I was missing my sister.

"I'm sorry, Alex. It should've been me. If I wasn't such a baby, you would've survived." I said to nopony. I bowed my head one last time and exited the Pyramid. My nausea was getting much worse. Didn't matter. I couldn't throw up or anything in this realm. I made sure this pocket dimension would prevent illness.

"Must be some sort of turbulence." I said. I made my way over to my lake and peered down onto the surface, my reflection grimacing back at me. The water rippled and my image morphed and changed into Silver Rift. He was at a Rift Metro with his children and Fluttershy, doing a final check on Alex's statue. He seemed to be following my orders very well. Crime on Earth has lowered significantly, conflict between countries has stopped entirely, now that they all followed one ruler. Or rather, one group of rulers. Princess Twilight, Conjure and Silver Rift split the duties of Earth and rule it together. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are in charge of the rebuilt Equestria and Crystal Empire.

"I could've helped." I said bitterly. "I could've rebuilt both kingdoms in a matter of seconds." The nausea grew, filling every fiber of my being with a sick sensation. I began to drool uncontrollably as my stomach tightened, and that's when I knew something was wrong. I dropped to my knees and threw up all over the floor. That couldn't be. Unless….

"Please be wrong." I said. My horn began to glow and my stomach was enveloped in grey light. It wasn't possible, but it was the only explanation.

"Please be red, please! Just please come back red!" I said. The light surrounding my stomach grew brighter and brighter, then faded to a dark brown. The brown darkened to deep red and I jumped with joy. My happiness was very short lived, because the light brightened, going from red to brown, from brown to blue, and from blue to… green.

"No!" I cried. "How? What happened?" I swiped my hand through my Seeing Pond, returning it to a normal body of water. I looked into my own reflection, repulsed and confused at what was looking back at me. My right eye was dark red and it's pupil was slitted. I felt my mouth be cut by something sharp. Upon further inspection, I found it was fangs that were elongating from my gums. I stood up and looked over the rest of me. I grabbed my right wing, which was now more solid and scaly. My Cutie Mark was different, too. The left side was more or less the same, the same old white heart with it's angel wing, but the right side was an all black heart with a scaly, tattered demon wing. There was a fissure in the center that split the hearts down the middle, only connected by red stitches. above them was a crown, the left half an icy blue, the right half dark red.

"No!" I shouted, backing away. My head was pounding, right at the top, and the roof of my mouth felt as if it had been impaled with something sharp. Lord Sombra had left me with one final gift.

"I'm pregnant." I said, dropping to my knees in tears.


End file.
